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kevindayscrown · 3 years

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The one where Kevin Day falls in love with an ice hockey player.

Part 9

Closing Curtain

(TW: Very angsty. Enjoy;))

Anything included in this head canon takes place the semester after the Foxes won the championship against the Ravens.

Disclaimer: I know next to nothing about varsity teams in the United States so excuse any false information. Head over to the directory to find the previous parts.

It was easy like that. It was easy to pretend that it was all part of the game. The two of them were acting, after all. It was nothing more. The weeks leading up to the winter banquet were spent in practices, in studying, in Exy and in the dates with Eric.

Kevin knew it should be ending soon. He’d already fed the press enough, and the news were slowly starting to die down.

He didn’t think too much of the fact that he didn’t want it to end.

Despite not having completely opened up to Eric yet, Kevin had been growing more and more comfortable around him. Their dates consisted mostly of going to some public place for a couple of hours before retreating to the safety of the attic.

Kevin had never before cared about the details in someone’s life, but if someone asked him what did Eric’s laughter sound like (loud and obnoxious like thunder), what his favorite food was (pizza, much to Kevin’s dismay, and a traditional Vietnamese dish), and other silly little questions like these, Kevin would be able to answer them.

Of course, Eric in return, had discovered quite a lot about Kevin, perhaps even things that Kevin didn’t know about himself to begin with.

Despite all that, their first kiss at the attic during their first date was also their last.

After sobering up from the excitement of the day, Kevin had more or less freaked out over it.

He convinced himself it meant nothing.

This was all just a game.

The day of the winter banquet came sooner than Kevin expected it. The Foxes had won enough games to move forward in the season and the new recruits had finally adjusted in the team.

The USC Trojans were hosting the banquet that year. The Foxes would have to travel across the country to get there, and would also spend the night at a hotel.

Much to Kevin’s dismay, this also meant that Eric would get to know the foxes of the Exy team better, and they would also probably embarrass Kevin in front of Eric.

“So, Eric.”

“Yes Nicky?”

Kevin was already rolling his eyes. He looked at the seats in front of them, seeing Andrew staring out of the window while squeezing Neil’s hand. It was a sight the Foxes didn’t get to see often but Andrew hated airplanes and flying. Kevin doubted he cared much about what the Foxes saw right now.

Nicky started asking Eric stupid questions about his ‘relationship’ with Kevin and soon, most of the Foxes joined in. Of course, they were enjoying this, but only Eric seemed to indulge them. Kevin ended up plugging in his earphones and just watching a game of Exy on his laptop.

When they arrived, they went straight to the court, where everything had been set up for the banquet. The foxes were one of the last teams to arrive so they were quickly taken to the locker rooms to change.

At that point, Kevin was already feeling his nerves overwhelm him. He knew he would see familiar faces and yet he’d still have to pretend he was dating a guy.

The two of them had already faced… judgment but it would be different coming from other Exy players.

“Hey,” Eric said when they were dressed and heading outside, hand on the small of Kevin’s back. “You look a bit pale. You sure you’re okay?”

Kevin flinched away from his touch when he noticed that people were looking. People Kevin knew, people he could name.

Eric noticed something was wrong and pulled his hand away quickly.

“Hey, Day!” Someone called and Kevin turned, spotting Jeremy with Jean on toe. A small smile appeared on Kevin’s lips, though it was faint.

“Hello Jeremy.”

Jeremy glanced at Eric by Kevin’s side and offered the pair a toothy grin.

“So, the rumors are true?”

Kevin immediately tensed, sparing a glance at Jean, who stood there unfazed, like a silent reminder.

He could only force a small smile before replying, “They-,”

“I believe we should take our seats? I think food is being served,” Eric said, as if able to feel the tension oozing off of Kevin.

Jeremy nodded and smiled again. Kevin often wondered how could one person have so much kindness to spare.

“Talk to you later, Kev,” the blond said and patted Kevin’s shoulder before walking past him.

Jean kept his gaze on Kevin a little longer before he followed after his teammate.

Eric then led them at their table and the two took a seat in silence.

No matter how many times Eric tried to spark a conversation, Kevin would turn away and say nothing. He would recoil from any kind of touch, always keeping an eye out for who might be watching.

Rumors.

“Day, what’s wrong?” Eric muttered under his breath eventually.

“Nothing is wrong,” Kevin said, casting a cold, apathetic look at Eric.

Eric was taken back by that, eyebrows furrowed, seeing as he hadn’t been on the receiving end of Kevin’s glares in a while.

“Okay, pause. Can we talk about it?”

Kevin hesitated, but then nodded slowly.

The only thought in his mind was that maybe a big break up during the winter banquet would attract the last ounce of attention they could get out of this.

They went to the restroom and Eric waited until the door was closed before he spoke.

“Are we going to go back to pretending we hate each other now?”

Kevin didn’t respond immediately as he leaned up against the counter, arms crossed in front of his chest.

“I don’t understand what you expect from me, Jiang. If anything, the news has died down. You are free to go.”

Eric stared at him in confusion before his expression shifted into one of anger.

“Free to go? Then why did you bring me here, Kevin?”

“One last show? Perhaps breaking up in front of everyone will be our closing curtain.”

Kevin knew that wasn’t what he wanted. But what he wanted didn’t matter. He needed to salvage his remaining reputation and perhaps remove this stain.

“Are you fucking kidding me?”

Kevin avoided looking at Eric.

“Kevin. Kevin, look at me and tell me that none of this was real. If you truly believe that it all was nothing but a performance, then I’ll leave you alone.”

Kevin clenched his jaw and turned to look at Eric, as requested, eyes narrowed.

“I’m straight. I did this because I had to.” Kevin knew how to lie, that was for sure. He knew how to put up a front.

“That isn’t answering my question, Kevin,” Eric snapped as he stepped closer, until he was standing in front of him. “You can’t lie and pretend that you didn’t feel anything.” Kevin could tell that Eric was now getting desperate.

Kevin was cornered and panicking. He had allowed himself to not think about what this whole ordeal had meant, but now he was forced to consider the endless possibilities. He wasn’t sure if he could do that.

“I’m not lying, Eric. If you want us to keep pretending for whatever reason until we are back at Palmetto, then we can do that. But it means nothing.”

It was as if Kevin’s mouth moved on its own, words coming out without him controlling them. He was so used to brushing people off, being distant, that the moment he had to face his own emotions, emotions for another person, he got defensive.

Eric looked into Kevin’s eyes as if looking for the truth there, and so Kevin looked away.

“Perhaps this was a waste of our time after all.”

As Eric left the restroom, Kevin ran his fingers through his hair and slumped against the counter, the tightness in his chest suffocating him.

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simonsrosebud · 3 years

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the one where someone doesn’t know who kevin day is, pt. 4

part one two three five

extra content linked at the bottom!!

the cousins are all on the bus. they’re the first ones there, but kevin hangs behind to wait for dalton. apparently it’s obvious.

nicky hangs out the open bus door. “he meet wymack yet?” and goes bug eyed when kevin shakes his head. “you haven’t introduced your boyfriend to your dad yet?! this is the first time they’re meeting?!”

and jesus, he didn’t think it was a big deal. it’s just the banquet. but he also knows he’s never had a father before. or a boyfriend, really.

“is... should i have done that before? why- it’s not some big deal.”

nicky shrugs. “first impressions are important.” and goes in the bus.

and now kevin’s trying not to get overwhelmed.

abby’s in charge of the headcount, but wymack still climbs out of the bus when the dates get there. dalton is the first one.

he goes right to kevin- still waiting outside the bus, and gives him a quick kiss before grabbing his hand and continuing on his way to wymack.

he sticks his hand right out. “i’m dalton. it’s nice to meet you, mr. wymack.”

wymack nods. “you as well. heard good things.” kevin hasn’t really said things about dalton, but he lets it go. probably just being polite.

“hell, hope i can live up to them.” he laughs. “i would’ve made it a point to introduce myself before, i apologize. i feel like i’ve been grading finals for weeks, now.”

wymack gets talking, and kevin honestly feels like a third wheel. dalton was doing a better job at talking with his father than he did sometimes.

kevin sends dalton onto the bus eventually, and wymack holds him back. “you told him shit?”

“yes. not the yakuza.”

“but he knows you’re kinda fucked in the head?” kevin almost frowns. he’s not wrong. wymack adds as a second thought, “not to say the rest of those idiots aren’t.”

“he knows.” he normally wouldn’t care to mention it, but he really wants wymack to like dalton. “he helped me with a panic attack a little bit ago.”

“riko?” he nods. every time it happens it makes wymack look beaten down. kevin almost regrets telling him, but wymack purses his lips and after a moment shoves his shoulder towards the bus. “he’s a good kid. stop your worrying and get your ass on the bus.”

it’s as good as a compliment as he’d hoped for, honestly.

this years banquet is in virginia. it’s a six hour drive, and kevin had already explained why they don’t fly if they don’t have to, so dalton’s kind of made it his mission to get along with some of the foxes.

kevin would rather he not. it’s not like the last time dalton spent time with the foxes they spilled his life faults in front of his new boyfriend.

that would be insane.

matt, dan, and dalton talk the most on the ride. renee joins the conversation at some point and matt and dan butt out.

kevin’s busy talking to wymack about exy, and horror sets in his eyes when he sees neil talking to his boyfriend. “we’re three hours in, kevin, he’s made it this far.” as in, neil won’t break him. but kevin’s nervous anyway.

until he hears what they’re talking about.

math.

“that’s disgusting.” kevin leans back in his seat and watches them talk.

renee smiles. “you’re dating him.”

the foxes are sat on the opposite side of the court of the ravens, as has become routine ever since neil and riko’s encounter. instead they’re sat with the trojans and jeremy, jean, and alvarez sit across from them. kevin smiles when jeremy comes around to say hi, but he smiles just a bit wider when introducing dalton.

jean and kevin have this thing. they don’t talk often, but when they do it’s more of a check up. so when jean asks him in french how he is, dalton grins. “do all exy players just speak french?” it’s more of a remark to jeremy, who laughs and tells him jean said he taught kevin french when they both lived at edgar allen together, which makes dalton feel a little bad. kevin had told him how he knew jean, and about living at edgar allen with riko’s abuse.

later, dalton grabs his hand under the table. “is french triggering for you?” and, what? “jeremy said jean taught you french, and you’ve told me about your time with jean.” oh.

dalton was a graduate student, sure, but he was more intuitive than kevin thought. “french was an escape because no one but us understood it. i like speaking french to you, because you like it. it helps to take away the meaning behind why i learned it in the first place, i think.”

“okay... can i kiss you? would you be okay with that?”

kevin raises a brow. “i mean, jesus, i came out for a reason.” he starts to turn away with fake annoyance, but dalton snorts and turns his chin back before he gets away. it’s just a small peck, but it’s enough to make dalton smile so kevin doesn’t care.

jeremy circles back. “volleyball, guys?”

dalton snaps his head back to kevin. “oh, i’m going to dominate you.” and takes off.

“be on my team!”

“nope!”

normally they’d drive back that night. the first banquet after the disastrous one last year was the fall one (which kevin went to with renee because he was still scared to introduce dalton), and they’d gone back that night since it was only a two hour drive.

wymack wasn’t sold on it at first, but after getting multiple confirmations from everyone that it’d be okay, he booked rooms so they could drive back sunday morning instead.

the foxes are all drunk- save for renee, andrew, neil, kevin and dalton.

they gather in matt and dan’s room for hours. at one point, kevin’s so out of it and tired that he doesn’t notice dalton leave for a moment.

it’s because of andrew.

but all must go well because dalton makes it back alive and unfazed. he settles behind kevin and kisses his cheek. “wanna head back?” he drops his head into the crook of his neck. “you look really good, baby.”

that’s a new nickname. he thinks he likes it.

ahaha. aha. you know what happens.

dalton asks kevin if he would want to come to maryland, his home, for a few days during winter break. kevin says sure before he realizes that it probably includes him meeting dalton’s family.

kevin does a google search once he’s settled back in his bed at palmetto.

when do people normally say i love you in a relationship?

he deletes it almost as soon as he searches it. it’s a stupid thing to search.

dalton sends him a text. a funny twitter post, and a message under it.

the banquet was so much fun, i’m so glad you asked me to go w you❤️❤️

kevin sends a heart back.

ALL EXTRA CONTENT ALL HERE BABEY (aka a dalton/kevin directory so i don’t have to keep updating on this post hehe)

there’s so much extra content and it just keeps coming so keep an eye out for updates on that link^^

dalton finds out how famous kevin really is

dalton/kevin at pride

what does dalton look like?

first fight aha

what did andrew say to dalton?

dalton & wymack’s perspective of meeting each other

AMAZING DALTON X KEVIN ART!!!

kevin meeting dalton’s friends

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nekojitachan · 4 years

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I’ve forgotten what part this is now. Six? Seven? Anyway, more of the Raven!Andrew soulmate AU.

Last part can be found here.

Ah, mention of someone going through drug withdrawals...

*******

“So, with all the games in, it’s pretty easy to figure out which teams are in the top four of each district,” Nathaniel proclaimed as he peeled his clementine. “Well, if you’re good at math.”

“You’re a freak of nature,” Jean grumbled, much as he did every time Nathaniel brought up his talent for mathematics.

“Oh, so you don’t want me to help you study for that Trig final?” Neil grinned when his partner tossed his own clementine at the smart-ass. “As I was saying, it’s pretty easy to figure out who’s in the top four. Naturally, we’re in the lead for the northeastern district and overall in the division.”

“What a surprise,” Andrew drawled as he pushed his empty plate aside and tried not to stare when his soulmate licked a drop of juice from his right thumb.

Tried not to.

“Hmm, yes, I’m sure no one will be shocked when Tetsuji announces that fact this Saturday at the banquet. Nor will anyone be surprised when they find out that the Trojans are in first place for the southwestern district.” He seemed to be staring straight at Jean as he said that, while his partner was intently focused on aligning his chopstick a certain way on his food tray.

Jean cleared his throat before he spoke. “They are the second-best team in the division.”

“Yes, and their new captain is very talented.”

“He’s… not too bad.”

Andrew suspected that he was missing something – at least until he caught the way Jean’s right hand rubbed over the soulmate mark hidden beneath the sleeve of his shirt; he remembered the backliner telling him that his soulmate played Exy, too. Andrew clicked his tongue as he reached over to steal a slice of Nathaniel’s fruit, which prompted a pout from his own soulmate that wasn’t adorable at all. “Is he as much an asshole as ours?” he asked in French.

“Ple-ah, come on.” A slight flush colored Nathaniel’s cheekbones as he caught himself in time; he’d noticed that Andrew didn’t care for the word ‘please’ and so avoided it in any language he spoke. “He’s a Trojan. He probably doesn’t even know how to spell the word, he’s so good.” He wrinkled his upturned nose at the end as if saying something foul.

“Which is why you’ll never be a Trojan, you little demon,” Jean told his partner.

“I never wanted to be,” Nathaniel declared as he threw a piece of clementine peel across the table.

Andrew propped his chin up on his left palm as he watched the partners squabble, partially distracted as he recalled the Trojan’s captain and starting striker: Jeremy Knox. Hmm, not too bad, though much too smiley for his tastes.

The bickering only stopped when it was time for the team to report for afternoon practice; even with the semester all but over, Tetsuji wasn’t easing up on the Ravens, oh no. Andrew had already been warned that the next semester would be brutal as the Ravens defended their title yet again. He’d deal with the stupidity of the whole ‘must win’ mentality after winter break; first he had to suffer through a little thing like withdrawal, considering that he was headed to some rehab clinic on Wednesday, after his last final.

(On one hand, he got out of the winter banquet. On the other hand, he’d probably be puking his guts out Saturday night. He still preferred skipping the stupid banquet.)

They’d just finished a scrimmage when Riko and Kevin returned from Baltimore, Riko appearing tired and his dark eyes red-rimmed, while Kevin was nervous and wouldn’t look Tetsuji in the eye. Tetsuji said something harsh to them in Japanese that made Nathaniel shift on the bench and Jean mutter in French, then ordered them onto the court for the final scrimmage – against each other.

Andrew didn’t need to be psychic to know it wasn’t going to end well.

“Another bad game last night?” he asked in German.

“They nearly lost,” Nathaniel answered as he watched the disaster unfold. “Kev… was unusually unfocused.”

Kevin Day, Kayleigh Day’s son, raised on Exy and in the Nest, who was one of the best strikers ever (all right, Andrew agreed with his soulmate that the arrogant, tall bastard was the best, not that he’d ever tell Nat that) was ‘unfocused’? Hmm, somehow Andrew suspected that it had to do with the growing rumors that Kevin was holding back because of Riko (was held back because of Riko). Someone took their #2 status a bit too much to heart.

Or they knew how vicious someone could be if they believed their precious status as #1 was threatened….

Not that Andrew gave a shit (he didn’t give a shit about much in general), but a certain soulmate watched on with a stiffening back and clenched fists as Riko, Federov and Johnson slammed Kevin around, as they tripped him up and knocked him down, jabbed the butt of their racquets into his padded ribs while Tetsuji turned a blind eye to it all.

The scrimmage finally ended with Riko’s ‘team’ winning by six points and Kevin on his knees gasping for air; Tetsuji nodded in approval at his smug prick of a nephew. Right away, Nathaniel was on his feet, his blue eyes bright with righteous indignation and cheeks flushed with anger, and actually got a couple steps away from the bench before Andrew realized that the idiot was about to cause a world of trouble.

He managed a word or two of Japanese before Andrew charged forward, grabbed his fool of a soulmate by the waist and heaved him over his shoulder (thankful that Nathaniel was on the lean side). “What the- put me down!”

“Ah, ah, sweetpea, practice is over and now you’re mine.” He nodded to Tetsuji, who gave him that ‘you’re a bug unworthy of my attention’ gaze and smacked Nathaniel’s ass to make him stop squirming. “I told you that you have to listen to what I say, time to reinforce the lessons.” That seemed to prevent Riko from going all ‘king’ on them for disrupting what was technically the last two minutes of practice; the prick laughed and called out suggestions for how Andrew could punish Nathaniel, while Kevin appeared grateful to have the attention turned away from him.

Jean gave Andrew an intent look as he headed for the Nest, but a slight nod from Andrew made him relax; he had to have worried about the trouble Nathaniel was about to drag him into, yet he still wanted to make sure that his partner wasn’t going to be harmed. Andrew would call him a fool, too, but he knew that Jean also considered Kevin a friend.

Scratch that, Jean was indeed a fool.

He smacked Nathaniel’s pert ass again (no, don’t think that) and got a fresh spate of insults for his troubles (in Japanese, of course, since he didn’t know the language – Nathaniel wasn’t a total idiot). Andrew bypassed the locker room and kept on until he found an unlocked door to a suitably uncluttered storage closet (just a few ladders and boxes of lightbulbs); he dumped a squirming Nathaniel onto his feet (more or less) and locked the door behind them.

Nathaniel (as always) was quick to regain his footing; he pulled his disheveled jersey down to cover the bare slip of abdomen then pushed back the damp auburn curls falling onto his flushed face as he glared at Andrew. “What the hell are you thinking?”

Andrew leaned against the locked door as he gazed at his furious soulmate (dammit, did Nathaniel have to look even more gorgeous when he was angry?) “I don’t know,” he drawled as he folded his arms across his chest. “That I was preventing you from doing something stupid enough to earn both you and Jean a bad enough beating that you wouldn’t be able to get out of bed tomorrow? Hmm?”

Mention of his partner made Nathaniel jerk back and then duck his head, the fire in him slowly sputtering out; Andrew would feel bad about that except that he didn’t believe in guilt and that everything he’d said was the truth. “I… dammit, I was trying to protect Kevin,” he said in a quieter voice, the heat of anger all but gone.

“Kevin is a big boy,” Andrew repeated for the fifty-eighth time. “Worry about yourself and Jean.” And him, because he wouldn’t allow Nathaniel to be such a suicidal fool.

Especially when he’d soon be gone for a couple weeks.

Nathaniel was quiet for a moment as he nibbled on his full bottom lip before he shrugged. “But… never mind.” His expression became closed off as he edged toward the other side of the closet, as far away from Andrew as possible.

Over the course of the semester, they had… well, they had grown comfortable in each other’s presence, had let down their guards somewhat. They were able to be close to each other, to spend the night in the same room and actually rest, to have their little jokes, to tease each other… but they still had their secrets, didn’t they? Andrew got most of his knowledge about his soulmate from Jean and others, while Nathaniel… well, he hadn’t told Nathaniel too much, had he?

He clicked his tongue as he dropped his arms to his sides. “Look, why don’t we try something new? You tell me something true, something you’re willing to give up, and I’ll tell you a truth in return.” He gazed at his soulmate steadily, as if he hadn’t offered something so ridiculous, something so… so intimate and… and… and ridiculous.

Yet after a few seconds, Nathaniel smiled and nodded. “Okay. So, uhm, who goes first?”

Andrew slumped against the wall for some reason and let out a slow breath. “You can ask first.”

“Okay.” Nathaniel did more of the lip nibbling thing (which did not help considering that they were enclosed in a small space and Andrew wanted to reach out to pull his soulmate close and- not helping) before he spoke. “Why did you agree to go off to rehab over winter break?”

Oh. Okay, that wasn’t bad. “Because I was put on the drugs against my will, they don’t do shit for me except jerk my emotions around, so I’ll jump at a chance to get off them early.” His grin widened even more as he flashed his hands in the air in a ‘ta-da’ manner. “I know I’m so much fun this way, but hyper Andrew is going bye-bye.”

“I… like you better without them. The drugs. Uhm.” Nathaniel ducked his head again, but not before Andrew caught a hint of blush on his cheeks. “So, your turn?”

Andrew shoved his hands behind his back before he did something stupid (like stroke his fingers over those warm cheeks). “Why are willing to get into so much trouble for Kevin?” Why did he try to step in for someone he barely talked to- was it because they shared the same ugly tattoo?

“Ah.” Nathaniel looked at him again, his expression thoughtful. “You… you’ve only been here a few months,” he said as he toyed with the hem of his Ravens’ jersey. “When I first came here, Riko wasn’t so bad and Kev helped me out a lot, showed me what to do and not to do.”

“Did he get you to keep your mouth shut?”

The slight, amused smile which always made something warm spark inside of Andrew’s chest curled on Nathaniel’s lips at the improbable question. “He tried, but….” Nathaniel gave a one shoulder shrug. “It was the three of us for a while, and then Jean showed up. Even then, all of us were young enough that Riko didn’t pull away entirely, not for another year or two.” His smile faded as he recalled the past. “Then he became determined to make us know our place, to show us the difference between heirs and belongings.” He gave an unconscious rub along his abdomen, which was littered with knife scars.

“Kev still talked to us and tried to help, but the partner bond with Riko gradually grew tighter and he didn’t have much free time to spare. That would have been fine, but the last year or two… well, you’ve seen it,” Nathaniel said as he gazed at Andrew. “Riko treats Kev more like a threat than a partner and brother.”

“So you think you owe it to him to try to defend him?”

Nathaniel shrugged again. “He stepped in for me in the past.”

Andrew slowly reached out to tug on his soulmate’s jersey. “Does Riko take a knife to him if he fights back? Give him to Federov as a treat?” He hated to bring that up, but he’d learned that Nathaniel was so damn stubborn and willing to martyr himself for those he considered friends.

(That wasn’t familiar at all.)

There was a flash of hurt in those pretty blue eyes for a moment, but Nathaniel didn’t bat his hand away. “No, nothing so permanent for Kevin, unless you count the emotional damage.”

Count on Riko to cover all his options when it came to abuse; Kevin could appear arrogant and confident as hell in front of a camera or out in public, but Andrew had to admit that anymore, he was a quiet presence around his partner when at the Nest.

“Then don’t rush to his defense and give Riko an excuse to hurt another person,” Andrew said as he tugged on his soulmate’s jersey again. “You’re supposed to have some brains, use them for once.” He clicked his tongue then let go.

Nathaniel narrowed his eyes as he straightened his jersey. “And did you think things through when you hauled me into here?”

Andrew was the one to shrug that time. “We’re soulmates and everyone thinks we’re screwing around, sweetpea. I’m sure they’ve ‘figured out’ what we’re up to, and it’s not talking.”

“Well then, we better leave now because I’m sure they expect you to be done by now, hasenfürzchen,” Nathaniel purred as he mussed his hair. “Even with a round two.”

That… Andrew didn’t know what surprised him more, his new nickname (what the hell) or that his soulmate was going along with his little joke. “Don’t forget to limp,” he advised as he unlocked the door. “You know, since I’m so big.”

“Something of yours is certainly huge and needs cut down to size,” Nathaniel muttered as he stomped out into the hall; Andrew noticed that Jean was waiting for his partner, along with a few sniggering Ravens. He ignored them as he went to change out of his Exy gear and shower, only pausing when he spotted Aaron in the red-painted hallway along the way to the locker room.

His twin should be almost done with his shift as Tetsuji’s work study assistant, running errands and doing a bunch of menial office tasks on the weekend. As surly as he’d been when it had started, he soon settled into the job, probably aware of how the experience would reflect well on him when he applied for medical school.

(That and Nicky most likely had given him an earful when he found out about him almost being kicked out of Edgar Allan.)

Aaron had, no big surprise, ignored Andrew at first, but gradually got over his latest fit of temper – especially when he learned that Andrew would spend the winter break coming off his court-ordered medication.

At first, Aaron had yelled at him for leaving him stuck with visiting Nicky and Erik in Germany by himself, in having to put up with the ‘disgusting, love-sick idiots’ all the time. Then he got on Andrew about finding a ‘cheap’ excuse to get out of giving any presents that year. Finally, he sneered and called him a wimp for going the ‘posh clinic route’ for rehab.

Andrew gave him the finger each time and walked away.

That day, Aaron nodded at him, a slight frown on his face. “Didn’t practice end a bit ago?”

“Had to talk to someone about some stuff,” Andrew said as he tugged on his jersey, eager to get out of his sweat-soaked gear.

“Oh.” Aaron glanced at the stack of envelopes in his arms as if considering something before he huffed. “Everything set for your pampered rock star rehab?”

Andrew rolled his eyes as he gave his brother the finger. “Yes.”

Aaron looked as if he was struggling not to smile (or drop some of the envelopes). “Let’s hope they don’t mix you up with one of the patients in there for a psych evaluation. We’ll never see you again, then.”

“Fuck off,” Andrew told him without any heat. “And bring back the good chocolates with the alcohol in them.”

“Sure I will, they’ll just all be for me,” Aaron taunted as he walked away.

Why couldn’t Andrew be an only child?

Why couldn’t he have a ‘get out of mass homicide’ card; when he joined Nathaniel and Jean in the dining hall, Federov, Johnson and several other assholes let out loud catcalls over their ‘quickie’. Andrew took one look at the too-blank look on his soulmate’s face then the barely suppressed delight on Jean’s and inwardly sighed. “I’m not a big fish.” Nor was he a rabbit.

Nathaniel eyed him up and down as if mentally deciding how best to fillet him. “Not gonna stop me from removing your spine in one piece while you’re still breathing.”

“Guess you didn’t do a good job, did you?” Jean taunted before he sipped his green tea. “Need to work on your stamina, yes?”

“Fuck you,” Andrew said with a wide grin as he eyed his yet again healthy (meaning bland and disgusting) dinner.

“I thought you got it all out of your system for the day.”

“Enough,” Nathaniel called out as he snatched the green apple from Andrew’s tray (he was more than welcome to have it, especially if it got him to stop threatening bodily harm). “Or I’ll gut you both.”

Andrew and Jean snorted at the threat, but focused on eating (choking down their food) regardless. As soon as they were done, they went to the backliners’ room to study for their upcoming finals; Andrew’s were crammed into the next three days, while Jean and Nathaniel had the rest of the week. Normally, Andrew wasn’t concerned about his grades, but the Ravens had to maintain a certain GPA as part of their ‘perfect’ image. Even Nathaniel, who was still in high school and taking online classes (and was expected to pursue a pro career, just like Jean), couldn’t let his grades slip past a certain point.

The next couple days were a busy blur for Andrew, were rushing from one final to the next amidst practices and study sessions. Despite the hectic schedule, he did make the time to reinforce an important fact with a few Ravens such as Federov: he would only be gone for a short while, and at no point during his absence should they dare assume that Nathaniel was fair game. There were some dented lockers, broken noses and black eyes by the time he was done reminding the bastards of that fact, but everyone could still play Exy so Riko and Tetsuji couldn’t bitch (too much).

“I don’t know why they let you get away with it and not me,” Nathaniel grumbled while he watched Andrew pack a duffel bag with a few personal items; he’d finished his last final that morning and would be driven to the rehab clinic in another ten minutes by Akagi.

“Because I’m universally adored.” Andrew narrowed his eyes and batted aside the pair of socks he’d just dropped into the bag which his soulmate had picked up and thrown at him. “Not nice. See, that’s why they don’t let you get away with shit.”

“I think you’re being checked in for your lying problem.” Nathaniel sat perched on the edge of Andrew’s bed, his expression guarded.

“What lying problem?” When Nathaniel didn’t say anything, Andrew zipped the bag closed and dared to reach out to lift his soulmate’s chin to make their eyes meet. “I don’t lie to you.” Not about anything important.

Nathaniel was quiet for a few seconds, then he nibbled on his bottom lip as doubt clouded his pale eyes. “You are coming back, aren’t you?”

“Yes,” Andrew breathed out as he stroked his thumb along his soulmate’s tattooed cheek (he wanted to stroke it along that abused full lip, to pull Nathaniel toward him and- no, not yet). “How could I possibly live without the wonderful tofu dinners here?”

That made Nathaniel smile. “See, there you go, lying again.”

Andrew grinned as he (reluctantly) let go then grabbed his bag. “Don’t do anything too stupid while I’m gone, sweetpea.”

“Hey! What makes you think I’m going to do anything stupid at all?”

Andrew merely hummed as he left his room, which made Nathaniel growl in such an adorable manner.

His soulmate caught up and walked beside him as he went to find Akagi. “So, uhm, are you going to tell me what really A/B/O means before you go?” Nathaniel asked, his expression hopeful.

“Absolutely badass optometrists,” Andrew ‘lied’, and inwardly delighted over the insults his soulmate hurled at him; he savored the image of Nathaniel with flushed cheeks and bright eyes, certain it would make the next couple weeks bearable.

While the Mountain Springs Restorative Clinic (‘restorative’, what a joke) looked very nice with its (now dormant) gardens, water fountains, ponds and other features which probably appealed to a more select clientele, Andrew (as expected) spent most of his visit miserable as hell as he went through a sped-up detox program, withdrawing from a drug in a fraction of the time as normally recommended.

He didn’t care if it felt as if he’d thrown up his entire digestive system at least four times, that his bones had turned into molten glass, that acid ate through his nerves and insects had set up a colony inside his head… he just wanted the damn drug gone. The first day he woke up and didn’t feel a need to take a new dose made all the suffering worthwhile (even if he felt like utter shit otherwise).

Upon his release after the new year, he was weak as hell, clean, minus ten pounds and instructed not to participate in practice for a week. Akagi didn’t say anything to him as he climbed into the black SUV, just gave him a polite nod in acknowledgement, and off they went on the almost thirty-minute drive back to Edgar Allan. He found himself anxious to return to campus, which he told himself had more to do with leaving the clinic behind and not because he was worried about a certain smart-mouthed soulmate.

Andrew powered back on his phone to check his messages, which were mostly from Aaron and Nicky, wishing him a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year (and a couple ‘you still alive?’ texts). Toward the end, there was one from Aaron asking ‘wtf is going on with ur team?’, which didn’t make any sense.

Then Andrew got to the text from Ben, which basically said that Nathaniel was all right. Something cold jolted through him as he pulled up the search browser and typed in ‘EA Ravens’: among the top returned results were several articles about Kevin Day being injured in a skiing accident while on vacation with Riko Moriyama.

(There was no use in pretending that he wasn’t concerned as hell about Nathaniel anymore.)

*******

No, I wouldn’t subject Andrew to Proust (I think a couple people were worried about that) - this Andrew is basically on Riko’s ‘good side’ right now so there wasn’t a need. Also, not quite emotionless Andrew off the drugs (he’s not entirely unaffected) since he gets off them a bit earlier, has less trauma while on them (no Drake or Proust) and there’s Nathaniel/his soulmate there.

I think that’s it? There’s probably just a few more parts left to this.

#the real thing fic #aftg #andreil soulmate au

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teen-content-queen · 4 years

Text

I’m Nothing

Fandom: AFTG Ship: Neil x Andrew Synopsis: Neil gets hit on and Andrew doesn’t like it.

Read on AO3

Eden’s Twilight was busy, the usual Friday night crowd intensified by a local concert that had gotten out around the time they’d gotten into Columbia after their game. From the sidewalk outside, Neil watched Andrew and Allison’s cars swing around the corner as they went to find parking.

“Neil?” Dan called out, looking for him as the rest of the Foxes disappeared into the bar.

“Right here.” He said, turning back and following her and Matt through the door.

As soon as they stepped inside, Neil spotted Aaron at the bar with Nicky, chatting with Roland as he poured drinks, arranging their usual order across two trays. Neil gave him a head nod before looking towards the tables nearby, where Kevin, Renee and Katelyn were watching the group before them clearing out their stuff to move on to the next bar.

Katelyn may be a bit annoying, but Neil admired her ability to spot a table and sink her claws in. He watched her eye a rowdy group of women that Neil assumed must be a bachelorette party and cut them off at the pass with a steely gaze. Satisfied, Katelyn and Renne quickly took their seats while Kevin continued to eye the crowd. Neil, Matt and Dan arrived at the table just as Aaron and Nicky returned with the trays.

“There’s a shot and a soda for you Neil.” Nicky said, eyeing Neil with a curious look. Neil just gave him a nod and took the soda, leaving the shot behind. He wasn’t in the mood tonight. Nicky let out an exasperated sigh and took the shot himself, chasing his own with the brown liquor.

Neil took a seat on the far edge beside Matt, and listened to Matt and Nicky discuss the DJ’s music taste. A quick look down the table showed him that Dan and Kevin were already discussing the outcome of their game earlier that night. They’d won by 3 goals, but Neil knew from Kevin’s grumbling in the car that he wasn’t satisfied with the defensive line and by the look on Dan’s face, he wasn’t afraid to tell her so. Across from them, Renee and Katelyn were chatting away about something on Renee’s phone while Aaron watched them with only the faintest glimmer of interest on his face.

With the trays cleared, Neil made quick work of collecting the empty glasses, stacking them up and carrying the whole mess back to the bar for the next round. When Roland saw him coming, he held up a finger, letting him know he’d come over as soon as he could. The same bachelorette party from before seemed to be hoarding his attention at the moment.

Neil found a small opening to slide the trays across and tucked himself in, ready to wait out of the flow of traffic. He looked towards the door, wondering where Allison and Andrew were before remembering the concert. Parking and traffic would both be a nightmare. He made a mental note to ask for extra shots for both of them.

In his distraction, he hadn’t noticed the guy next to him staring until he finally turned back towards the bar. The guy was probably in his late 20s, his dark hair cut short and dark stubble groomed in a way that suggested it was intentional instead of just a lazy afterthought. He looked a little out of place at Eden’s but here he was, watching Neil.

At this point Neil was used to the looks. Between Exy and the scars across his arms and cheeks, there was a lot about Neil Josten that garnered attention. He looked at the guy now, quickly realizing his gaze wasn’t like the starstruck looks he got at Palmetto or the curious eyes that traced his scars whenever he went somewhere with the Foxes. This guy wasn’t looking at Neil like that at all. Before Neil could decipher it, the man was talking to him. Because of the music, Neil had to lean in closer to hear what he was saying.

“Cool scars. I guess you like it a little rough.”

Neil pulled back a little to look at the man, noticing now the slight grey flecks in his stubble. Neil cocked his head to the side, not sure he’d heard the man correctly. Sure, he’d been hit on by Nicky a few times in his first year at Palmetto, but those had mostly been jokes and before then Neil had done such a good job of blending in that no one had ever thought to hit on him, let alone a stranger in a bar. The man must have mistaken Neil’s confusion for curiosity though and leaned in again.

“Can I get you a drink?”

Neil shook his head, thinking about the nearly full soda he’d left under Matt’s protective eye at the table. He eyed Roland down the bar, but the bachelorette party was still holding his attention.

“Ah come on, don’t be shy. I’m a nice guy.” The man said, leaning in so close now Neil could smell his cologne and the faint hint of cigarettes.

“I’m fine.” Neil said, words soaked in their usual indifference. He pulled his gaze from the guy and looked back at the bar, hoping he’d get the hint and give up. Apparently, Neil wouldn’t be so lucky.

Instead of moving onto another prospect, the guy turned from the bar towards Neil, pushing his weight into Neil’s firmly planted frame. By now, Neil had gone from confused to annoyed, sliding far enough away that he could no longer feel the guy’s body heat through his shirt.

“If I can’t get you a drink, how about a dance?” He asked, a little bite to his question this time. Neil ground his teeth together.

Roland finally closed out with the bachelorette party and was moving towards Neil when he noticed the guy next to him. Neil could tell he sensed something was off, because he distinctly made out Roland’s lips saying “oh God no” as the man put a hand on Neil’s shoulder in an effort to force Neil’s attention on him.

Before Neil could do anything though, a hand reached out of the crowd for the guy’s elbow. Black bands covered his forearms, but Neil could still see the muscles underneath flex as the hand gripped the elbow and yanked it off of Neil.

“You shouldn’t touch things that don’t belong to you.” Andrew said, voice emotionless but fingers still tight around the guy’s arm.

The man looked from Neil to Andrew with a guilty and horrified expression that would have made Neil laugh a little if he wasn’t afraid of Andrew dislocating his elbow. Neil gave him less than a cursory glance before focusing on Andrew. Andrew finally tore his gaze from the guy to look at Neil.

“I’m fine.” Neil promised, answering the unasked question.

He watched Andrew give him a once over and then turn back to the man beside them, dropping his elbow and watching as he skittered off into the crowd and away from them. When he’d disappeared, Andrew looked at Neil, expression back to a placid indifference but Neil could see his hand still clenched at his side.

“I’m fine.” Neil said again, softer this time but knowing that Andrew would hear him.

“200% Josten.” Andrew said, flicking an irritated glance towards the dance floor where the guy had disappeared to.

Neil rolled his eyes.

“That was not my fault. I’m stupid, remember? How am I supposed to know when a guy is flirting with me?”

“201.” Andrew replied, but Neil could see the smallest smile on his lips. Neil let his hands hover above Andrew’s still balled into fists at his side. Andrew looked down at them and back at Neil.

“Yes or no?” Neil asked.

“Yes.” Andrew said.

With that, Neil took Andrew’s hands in his, soft despite their callouses. Without breaking his gaze, he gently uncoiled Andrew’s fingers, smoothing his over the half circles Andrew’s fingernails had dug into the pads of his hands. Interlocking their fingers together, Neil gave Andrew’s hands a small but firm squeeze before dropping one hand to turn toward the bar where Roland was busy filling their trays with drinks.

“An extra couple shots please.” Neil told him. Roland nodded.

“Already taken care of. Sorry about that Neil. If I’d seen him, I would have come over sooner.”

Andrew was still looking at Neil, and again Neil squeezed his hand.

“I’m fine Roland.”

Andrew huffed at his side, about as tired as his teammates of hearing Neil say his standard catchphrase. But their drinks were ready and Neil had to drop Andrew’s hand as they both took a tray and headed for the table.

When they got back, only Kevin was left, the rest of them off on the dance floor. Neil spotted Nicky and Renee on the outer edge, jumping and flopping around while Katelyn and Aaron had gotten swallowed up by the crowd ahead of them.

Kevin looked up, head buried in his phone. Neil saw the USC Exy game on his screen.

“How’s the game?”

“Trojans are up by 2. Jeremy is on fire.”

Andrew shifted next to Neil, pressing their thighs together as he picked up a glass from the tray in front of him and leaning into Neil’s side a bit. He stayed like that the rest of the night.

By the time they left Eden’s a few hours later, USC had won the game and Nicky had managed to lose part of his outfit on the dance floor. For the most part though, they were all in one piece and parted ways as they approached the cars, parked next to each other in spots that Neil would not have considered legal but knew better than to criticize.

Renee took Allison’s keys and piled her bunch into the car, taking Nicky along so that he’d make his early morning flight to Germany, wishing Andrew’s lot a safe trip to their place in Columbia before hitting the road back to Palmetto. Andrew climbed in the passenger side and was already situated with his seatbelt on when Neil opened the driver’s side door.

The trip back to Andrew’s place in Columbia was quiet, as Kevin had passed out immediately and Katelyn and Aaron spoke only to each other in hushed tones next to him. When they pulled into the driveway, Aaron and Katelyn had made their escape inside quickly as Andrew woke Kevin and the three drifted into the house. Kevin gave them a mumbled send off as he disappeared into Nicky’s room, shutting the door behind him.

Neil could hear the sink running in the bathroom upstairs, Katelyn’s giggled drifting through the quiet house, and let Andrew lead him to the kitchen. Pulling out two glasses from the cabinets, Neil filled both with cool water and placed one in front of Andrew, not caring about the glare he got for his efforts. Instead, he sipped on his own and stared off into space, ears still ringing from the bar.

His gaze was on the clock on the stove, the bright digits reading 2 am, when Andrew finally spoke.

“You ever say I’m fine again and I’ll cut your tongue out myself.”

Neil couldn’t help himself, finally looking at Andrew to answer,

“But you like what I can do with my tongue.”

Andrew just watched him, expressionless.

“202 Josten. And only getting higher.”

“If you kill me, what will you do to keep yourself entertained?”

Andrew almost smiled at that and Neil took it as a victory.

“Not almost get in bar fights every time a guy looks at you for starters.” Andrew said, flicking a hand as if swatting away some invisible gnat.

“But I’m nothing.” Neil said, pleased with himself for the callback.

“And I want nothing.” Andrew said, flipping the script on him. Neil almost choked on his water and set the glass down with shaky hands. Andrew stepped around the counter so that his chest was almost flush with Neil’s.

“Yes or no?” He asked.

“Yes.” Neil said, voice a little higher with shock and anticipation. Andrew wrapped a hand around the back of Neil’s head, grabbing onto a fistful of hair and dragging his head down to meet Andrew’s, lips crashing together.

#aftg #neil x andrew #the foxhole court #andriel #fanfic

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harryandmolly · 5 years

Text

i could write it better than you ever felt it - eight

A/N: in my grand tradition of Not Writing Lyrics, Forefront’s songs are brought to you by Jack’s Mannequin.

summary: fuck growing up. this is freedom, this is life, this is youth – 2007 Warped Tour style.

warnings: Language, The Shit Hath Hitteth The Fan (TM)

word count: 4.9k

“Florida is so fucking disgusting,” Francis whines.

Shawn sniffs and nods, wiping his brow with the back of his hand. It doesn’t help, just spreads more sweat around.

“It’s a swamp, what do you expect?” Seth gripes, kicking at a patch of muddy grass beneath their feet.

The Forefront boys are fucking wiped. It’s the middle of July. Warped has dragged them through 14 cities in three and a half weeks, and they have five weeks remaining. They’re hitting the Warped wall, the one all the bands hit after about a month of slogging through humidity, through beer-soaked afternoons and hungover mornings, through crowds of kids with too many feelings whose resounding screams of familiar lyrics are what keep everybody moving.

“Can we borrow your fuckbuddy’s shower later?” Bobby jokes, kicking aside a smashed-in red Solo cup as they stalk toward Smartpunk for their 2pm set time.

The hair on the back of Shawn’s damp neck stands. He chews on his lower lip so his piercing juts out. A thousand responses fly through his head, some more aggressive than others, and just as he opens his mouth to let one out, Seth clamps a hand down on his shoulder and steps in.

“Val Moreno knows better than to let you anywhere near her bus.”

The rest of the band snickers. Shawn releases a tense exhale and casts a sidelong glance at Seth who lifts his eyebrows and shrugs, ever the willing mediator.

The trek from the van to Smartpunk feels long today and it might just be because Streets’ merch booth is on the other side of the Reynolds Park Yacht Center’s grounds. It gives him less of an excuse to happen to pass her and maybe get a kiss, or, if he’s really lucky, a quickie in a dirty bathroom somewhere.

They arrive at the backside of the stage. Andrew is leading the charge as usual as Shawn dreamily wanders at the back of the crew. He’s gazing around aimlessly, head full of lyrics ready to be written, so he doesn’t notice the commotion. He’s kicking at the ground and biting his lip ring again when Seth nudges him. He looks up and follows Seth’s eyes to where Andrew is talking very close to the face of the bulky security guy. Shawn frowns. He goes to nudge Francis questioningly when Andrew turns on his heel looking flushed and startled.

“Ok. Change of plans. You’re on Hurley.”

“We’re…” Bobby breathes, unable to finish.

“Hurley…?” Seth croaks.

“You mean Hurley.com?” Shawn guesses.

Andrew licks his lips and cocks his head at the band who all seem to have shrunken a few inches each. “No. Hurley.”

Shawn’s stomach lurches. They’re all tripping over their own feet as they change direction and head for a stage that’s two levels of clout above where they have any business playing.

That’s when Shawn begins to notice it. They’re being watched.

The glances, the whispers, if they were there before, they were invisible to him. They’re unignorable now as Andrew lifts his chin and leads them back the way they came, back past a confused looking Carter at what could generously be described as their merch booth.

The Hurley stage… well, for one thing, it has a roof. Shawn’s bad with dimensions but it looks like it’s at least fifteen or twenty feet longer and deeper than Smartpunk. They’ve opened on stages this big when they got gigs at Toronto clubs for bands like Streets and All Time Low, so they at least have the experience of spreading out a little. Shawn can feel the nerves though. Seth is finger drumming against a railing a little faster and less rhythmic than usual. Francis is texting on his Sidekick but looking around anxiously like he’s sharing state secrets. Shawn swallows and closes his eyes. He suddenly really wishes Val were here to like, hold his hand or something.

He’s not crazy about that realization. That’s not what Val does. Despite his reaction earlier to Bobby’s comment, he’s right. They are fuckbuddies. They fuck in Val’s bunk, in the back lounge, in venue bathrooms, at bars she sneaks him into when they have a night off in certain cities. Yeah, he usually sleeps in her bunk with her, but that’s just because he’s like a giant human gravity blanket like she told him. He’s warm and heavy and doesn’t snore and she needs that kind of physical, human comfort for her insomnia. But it’s not, like, romantic.

He rolls his eyes at himself and knows very well all the flashes of imagery he’s ignoring -- when she wants his attention, she tugs at the back pocket of his jeans and kisses his shoulder. When they wake up together, he buries her face in his hair and sings her new music he’s working on and she helps him untangle some melodies and lyrics in his head.

It’s hard to reconcile it sometimes, the way they are 15% of the time, with the rest of it.

He’s startled out of his pointless examination by Bobby kicking at the back of his leg.

“Listen,” Bobby pants, wide-eyed and a little horrified by what he seems to hear.

Shawn narrows his eyes to focus. Then he gets it.

“How… how many people do you think are out there?” Shawn murmurs, scrubbing at the back of his neck.

Francis, for once, is stunned silent by the steady roar of the mass of humans waiting on the other side of the stage. From back here, they can’t see them and Shawn can’t decide if that’s better or worse. Bobby shakes his head and kicks at a spare riser to release some tension.

“Fuck,” Shawn croaks, folding his hands over his nose and mouth, exhaling slowly. He feels a hand on his arm. His skin jumps as fast as his brain does, right towards a false conclusion.

But it’s just Andrew wearing a sternly comforting look.

“You guys have done this before,” he reminds them gently, “They’re just… here for you now. Which makes it easier, not harder. You have no one to win over out there. You… you guys already did that.”

Shawn’s breath is shaky in his chest as they huddle up, swinging long, sweaty arms around each other, dipping their heads together to mutter hype words before they break apart and wait for the guy to announce them.

Shawn’s eyes close. This part, this is for him. He knows he has a band around him, he knows he has a family back home that loves him, he knows he has… an unknown number of people on the other side of a stage that came to see him. But these few seconds between the huddle and climbing up the steps to burst onto the stage, those are for him.

They’re for the hours he’s spent yawning through exhaustion, true bone-tired exhaustion, reaching for the right notes, the right words. They’re for the nights he spent facedown on his comforter back home in Pickering with headphones in listening to old Fall Out Boy and Yellowcard and Something Corporate feeling so inspired he thought his pounding heart would burst through his chest and splatter on the mattress. They’re for the times he felt like no one was there but him, like he needed something to believe in, so he drowned himself in pop-punk until he convinced himself he wasn’t so alone. They’re for the kid who pawned his hockey skates without telling his dad so he could buy his first shitty guitar.

When he opens his eyes again, his brain is turned off. Andrew hands him an acoustic and claps him on the shoulder. He ascends the steps behind the rest of the band, following them out to face the crowd.

There are easily hundreds of kids waiting for them, cheering as soon as they come around the side of the stage to take their places. Any lingering concerns Shawn had about the crowd realizing they’ve waited for the wrong band are gone. He locks eyes with a redhead against the barricade. Her cheeks are flushed and her eyeliner is a little runny, but she’s on her toes in battered old checkered Vans to lean over the metal gate to scream for them like she’s loved them for as long as she’s lived. When she realizes he sees her, she bounces up and down, elbowing the brunette next to her, reaching her arms out for him like she’s been waiting for this moment. He grins and tosses her a pick. She snatches it out of the air and gawps like a goldfish, jamming it into her bra before anyone can try to swipe it out of her fingers.

He plays the rest of the show for her, and for everyone like her that needs him as badly as he needs them.

“Just try it, come on!” Jack cries, wriggling so he can lift his shirt up to his chest, flexing his non-abs to make a point.

“It’s not going to work,” Val insists, smiling at the girl she’s handing $7.50 change to along with a size large Streets tour shirt.

She looks down at Jack Barakat, who has spread himself out across her merch table insisting she try to bounce a quarter off his stomach because he wants to prove to his bassist Zack that it will work.

“It is!” he whines, thrusting a quarter into her hand, wiggling again, “Come on!”

Val is about to give in and humor him when she catches sight of four very flustered looking teenage girls hustling around the crowds to head toward the larger stages.

“.... what time did the set start?” one barks.

“2!” cries another, raising their urgency.

“Oh my god, I am going to fucking kill myself if we miss Forefront playing on the fucking Hurley stage.”

Val’s jaw drops. She slaps Jack’s stomach for his attention. “The what? What did they say? Did they say Hurley?”

Jack cradles the welt forming on his skin and kicks blindly at her leg in weak retaliation.

“Yeah, they got the call up to the big leagues today. He didn’t tell you?”

Val frowns, a little insecure, “No. How did you hear?”

“Well,” Jack explains, sitting up and swinging his legs, “Alex told me but I think he heard it from Evan who was walking by the Paramore tent and Jeremy told him that he heard it from Josh who was told by--”

“Ok,” Val interrupts, mind blank as a sheet, “You have to stay here. You have to watch my table.”

“I can’t, we’re on in twenty minutes.”

“Fuck!” Val mutters, frantically looking around the stragglers by her booth. Just as she’s about to say ‘fuck it’ and abandon the table altogether, Greg comes swinging out of the bus with a truly horrifying microwaved hot dog in one hand and his Virgin Mobile flip phone in the other.

“Oh, thank god,” she breathes, springing out from behind the table to grab his arm and yank him into her place, “You have to watch the booth.”

“Are you ok?” Greg chuckles, lifting his eyebrows at her.

“I’m fine!” she cries, “I owe you one! Bye!”

Twelve years of competitive soccer have sharpened her sprinting and dodging skills. She bobs and weaves easily around liberty-spiked hair and enormous puddles of mud with a singular goal.

The Hurley stage. How did that even fucking happen?

She’s trying not to focus on the fact that he didn’t tell her this, because he knows as well as she how fucking big a deal it is, and he could’ve mentioned it at some point this morning between sucking her orgasm off his fingers and muttering “fuck, yes, fuck, that feels good” when she let him come in her mouth. But he didn’t.

Instead, she focuses on getting there to witness it. She sees the stage a few hundred yards away and from this angle, she can see the crowd. It’s a far fucking cry from their usual draw -- that AP Mag article definitely caught some attention. Her heart swells with pride until she remembers, just after she flashes her pass at Bucky the guard and begins to run up the steps to sidestage, that that pride isn’t hers to feel.

He’s not her boyfriend. He’s her… friend. With benefits. The benefits are really great, especially after a few weeks of practice. But any emotional attachment she feels to his accomplishment of his is… misplaced.

She drops her hand from the railing and steps back from the stairs. As her chest heaves from the effort of racing there, she takes long, striding steps backward, past Bucky’s curious gaze. She swallows, frowns a little at the pang in her heart, and walks around the edge of the crowd to stand somewhere in the back.

Somewhere in the back lands her beside Paramore’s merch tent. She smiles politely at their merch guy Max and props up on their tent leg to take it in.

They’ve just finished “Holiday from Real” and Shawn’s setting up at the keyboard, striking out the first few notes of “Dark Blue.” She has good timing -- it’s her favorite off Joy Ride, she thinks.

He’s wearing a soft smile like he doesn’t hear the booming cries of his audience as they begin to register what he’s playing next. He’s smiling like he’s playing for himself, by himself, for no other reason than because he has to to feel real.

“This was recorded on a grand piano,” he begins, licking his lips, waiting for the shrieking of excited girls to quiet before he continues, “So it sounds kinda shitty on the keyboard. But we’re poor and can’t bring a grand piano in a truck for Warped Tour so we work with what we got. You should buy the album because it sounds better on there, I promise. Anyway, this is Dark Blue.”

Val grins, chuckling as she steps aside to let some fans through to the merch table. She’s bobbing her head, lost in the way his face scrunches as he dips in and out of his falsetto, when she feels a brush against her arm. She turns her head and grins.

“Hey, you,” she laughs, opening her arms to shrug Hayley Williams into her shoulder, squeezing her gently.

“Come for a visit?” Hayley asks, stepping away to flip some shaggy fire engine red hair off her shoulders.

Val shakes her head and glances back at the stage. “Just watching, actually.”

Hayley nods her understanding and turns her attention in, biting her lip as she studies the performance. As the final notes fade out and Shawn stands from behind the keys to reach for the scarred blue electric Vince hands him, Hayley bumps Val again.

“They’re really fucking great,” Hayley quips. Val runs her tongue against her lower lip, watching Shawn toss a pick into the crowd and laugh at something Francis says that she can’t understand from this far back over the roar of the audience.

“They are.”

Val doesn’t hear herself answer Hayley. She’s lost.

But, as she stares up at him, watching his head bob and his eyes flutter shut, watching his heel tap the stage to the rhythm Seth pounds out behind him, smiling when he does at the crowd of people that came to see him today, she doesn’t feel lost at all. For the first time in months, she feels… found.

Val feels like a goldfish swimming circles around her bowl as she paces around the empty Forefront van. She’s kicking up mud all over the place and it’s clinging to her violet Bullhead skinnies that were already begging for a wash, but she hasn’t noticed. She wrings her hands, cracks her knuckles, untucks and retucks her hair behind her ears.

Val had turned avoiding Forefront’s sets into a goddamn art form. Yes, she caught one or two toward the beginning of tour when her heart didn’t feel quite so… full of him. When listening to him sing was easy and light and a fun new experience. He hadn’t asked her to come watch and she didn’t feel like that was by accident. She had a feeling maybe he had the same thought, that her watching the set was somehow a dangerous idea.

She thinks maybe her functioning human brain just shut down when she heard they were playing Hurley and that’s why the lizard brain took over and dragged her there to stand behind a sea of scene kids. That’s the only explanation she can think of. Rational thought was just… gone.

Now, as she turns crop circles around their 15-seater waiting for them to return from their triumphant set, she knows for certain why avoiding their sets was necessary.

Because now she’s certain that she’s so goddamn in love with him.

I mean, ok, it’s been a month. Maybe love is a strong word. Maybe she’s infatuated, maybe it’s as fleeting as Warped Tour itself. Maybe this time next year she’ll be laughing at the idea of Shawn Mendes. But right now, she slumps against his van and sighs, knees weak at the thought of him.

This was… not supposed to happen. She was supposed to take the summer to move on, to continue recovering and relax before she leaves in the fall. She’s supposed to be spending late nights talking to Bea and bonding with her brother and pranking Alex and Jack at barbecues and swallowing her last gulps of the scene before she leaves it behind for good.

But she knows. She has known it. And she knows it now when she hears his laugh coming up the hill overtop the voices of his rowdy band and crew. She turns and smiles, waiting for him to see her.

She knows it when he stops mid-sentence and races up to her, tackling her against the side of the van as he laughs into her neck, his skin buzzing with adrenaline, ignoring the teasing of his friends. She knows it when he pulls back to smooth hair out of her face and kiss her, so she opens her big, fat mouth.

“Do you want to stay with me in the hotel tonight?”

A hotel night with Val is just about the most perfect way to end a day like this, so why the fuck is he dreading it?

Hotel nights are for the lucky few on Warped Tour, bands who are signed to labels with actual cash and generally have been around the scene collecting a fanbase for awhile, a.k.a. not Forefront.

Streets has had two hotel nights so far, both of which Val made excuses to keep from inviting Shawn to. The first, she was “sick.” The second, Bea would be crashing in her room. The reality of both? It felt a little too… much.

There’s something about a hotel room with clean sheets and a view of the city and a shower that could fit them both at once that brings them both out of the grimy, slimy Warped Tour bubble and into a reality that’s a little harder to face. Val hasn’t been ready for that and Shawn hasn’t pushed for it because the longer they keep their heads buried in the fairground dirt, the better off they are.

He doesn’t even mean to say yes, really. But his mouth moves a little faster than his brain and trips right into a “oh fuck, yes.”

Now as he’s walking a little too slowly toward the Streets bus with his head down and hands shoved deep in his pockets, his whole body feels heavy and the buzzing in his brain gets louder and louder with every step.

It’s not that he doesn’t want it. God, he fucking wants it. A night alone with her in a real bed? Jesus. But… it’s going to be so much harder to keep things the way they are after something like this. Everything is changing so fast -- he needs the stability, the simplicity of Val as she is, a beautiful escape.

He looks up with a belabored sigh and spots the Streets bus as it covers the sun setting over the horizon. The whole band and crew mills about excitedly outside, but Val is still, looking up over the bus. Her hair is drawn down over her shoulders brushing the bare skin on her back where her Yellowcard tee has ridden up. He finds himself drawn to her, walking right up behind her to plant his hands on her hips and push his nose into her hair for that warm, familiar smell of citrus and her.

Val closes her eyes at the tenderness of it, placing her hands over his and rubbing her thumbs gently over his knuckles. They remain silent, buried in their own conflicting thoughts, somehow aware of the tumult in each other’s minds. Val cracks first, turning in his arms to press her hands to his chest and take a deep breath. She locks eyes with him and swallows sharply.

“Ok?”

“Ok.”

“Hey, what’s this little divot in your face?” she breathes, running her whiskey flavored lips over his cheek. He shudders at the feel of her breath and swallows.

“Cut myself trying to shave when I was like, nine.”

Val feels her heart scrunch up in her chest, trying to reject the image. She doesn’t want it. She has no interest in picturing him curly-haired and bright-eyed, a curious nine-year-old with a world ahead of him. She has no interest in the tenderness she feels for him now, ten years later, with that perfect little scar on his cheek that drew her interest.

She has no interest in loving him.

But, after a drink or two from the minibar, she can’t really fight it anymore. Her nails scrape against his scalp as he plods hot kisses down her stomach, smiling gently as her muscles contract. She curls her fingers into his biceps until he pins her arms over her head, stroking into her slow and deep until his heart physically aches. He fucks the tenderness away, sprinting after her orgasm until she’s clenching down around him, swearing in Spanish, breathing hot and hard in his ear. When he pulls out from inside her, his body screams at him to stay, but his brain knows better.

Val turns over with the sheets around her hips and sighs happily into her pillow, tucking her hands under her chin as Shawn stands to ditch the condom. On his way back in, he stops dead in the doorframe of the bathroom and stares.

On Valentina’s back is what is, without a shadow of a doubt, the most beautiful tattoo he’s ever seen.

It’s pretty large, about 8’ by 8’, a scene out a window in a cracked white frame. He stumbles closer, brushing his fingers over the incredible detail as she purrs at the touch of his fingers on her sex-flushed skin.

“‘S my bedroom window,” she explains sleepily, her eyes still shut under the weight of her crushing orgasm, “From my parents’ house in Miami.”

He’s nodding, lost in the way the palm trees frame the colorful neighborhood, the little kid on a bike riding away. It feels… warm somehow. He’s enamored.

“I designed it,” she whispers so quietly he almost doesn’t hear.

Shawn’s attention is lifted from the art on her back. “You what?”

Val turns her head and opens her eyes to blink at him. “I’m an artist. I designed the tattoo. My friend Erika did it over the course of a couple months when we first got signed. I wanted a reminder of where I spent most of my time when I was a kid, staring out my bedroom window, wanting a piece of the world. Now, though… I like it as a reminder of where I came from, not where I’m going.”

Shawn sniffs gently, seeing a flash of his own childhood bedroom window in his mind -- pine trees, a long driveway, ice crystals on every surface. A request bubbles up in his throat for her to draw it for him. He swallows it down.

He bends over her lithe body and presses a kiss to the setting sun in the center of her masterpiece.

He crawls in and falls asleep beside her without another word.

He feels a little better when he wakes up.

She’s exactly where he left her, facedown in the pillow beside him with her art on display. Her hair is a nest of wild curls around her since they showered together before bed. He finally feels really clean for the first time in weeks.

He considers their night together while he pulls on a pair of sweats he brought to be ready for the room service he ordered for them. He remembers the haze of anxiety he fought through to be with her, to really be with her, and he doesn’t feel it’s fully lifted, but sharing last night was, for lack of a better word, special.

He’s cursing himself for being the world’s worst lyricist, unable to think of a better word when there’s a knock at the door. He springs out of bed to bring the room service in himself because Val’s still naked under the sheets.

He accepts the tray from the guy with a smile and a small tip because he only has a couple bucks on hand. As he’s maneuvering his way back inside, Raf comes swinging around the corner with a bucket of ice. Shawn freezes, still uncomfortable with the obviousness of his and Val’s relationship around her twin brother.

A series of odd looks come across Raf’s face until it settles on eerily placid. He smiles stiffly.

“Hey, man. You ordered breakfast?”

Shawn nods, attempting a crooked smile that comes off as a grimace.

Raf bobs his head. “That’s nice. You got her French toast, right?”

Shawn nods again.

“Good, good. That’s her favorite. She’s always liked the fancy stuff. Guess that’s why she’s going back to school at Oxford in the fall.”

Raf’s eyes lift from the tray in Shawn’s suddenly very shaky arms. He fixes Shawn with a dangerous glance and sweeps back inside his hotel room to settle in with Bea until checkout.

Shawn stands there dumbstruck, his back holding the door open, until he hears the sheets rustle behind him.

“You got breakfast, papi?” calls a delighted, sleepy voice.

Shawn turns, not looking half as happy as she is. She sits up, sheets pooling around her hips, nipple rings glinting proudly in the morning light as she raises her arms above her head to stretch. She drops them and smacks her lips together before she notices his expression.

Now she’s awake.

“What?” Val swallows, feels her heart begin to work a little harder.

“Raf. Just… he just told me…”

Val goes white as a sheet.

No.

“Papi, no, he just--”

“I…” Shawn begins, his brow wrinkling, “I think I need to go.”

Val watches him gather his clothes and slip out of the room before she can manage to think of something to make him stay.

That afternoon, after being on a low simmer all day, she storms up the steps to the bus and slams the door open, throwing herself into the front lounge. Raf looks up from his Xbox controller. Greg and Naveen know enough to scatter quickly.

Val steps forward and grabs the controller to toss onto the couch.

“What the fuck is wrong with you?” she barks.

Raf plays it cool, sighing condescendingly. “I don’t know, Val, what the fuck is wrong with me?”

“I don’t fucking know! I really don’t fucking know,” Val seethes, crossing her arms over her chest, “First you stumble back into bed with Bea like it’s fucking 2005 again, or the summer of 2004, or the fall of 2006, or whatever. And now this.”

Raf bristles, standing to confront her. “My relationship with Bea is none of your goddamn business.”

“Oh, is it not?” Val shrieks, throwing her arms out, “Coulda fooled me. Every time she stomps her tiny little feet all over your heart, you pour it all over me, ‘Val, you’re her best friend, tell me what she’s thinking,’ ‘Val, don’t let me call her again.’ Yeah, you’re right, you’ve definitely never made that my problem.”

“I needed your help!” he cries, “I needed you! Things were fucking bad and I needed my sister. But you pushed me away and made me feel weak and stupid. You’re always pushing me away, Val! We found one thing to do together, the one thing that made us feel like brother and sister instead of enemies, and you threw it away! Te necesité, me alejaste!”

Val’s eyes widen. “No! No, you’re not bringing this up again! Do not do this to me again!” she begs desperately, “I gave you everything I could. I could not give you my whole life, not for this. For this? To live out of a bus, to see our parents once every four months? To never be able to settle and build a life somewhere? I gave you that time, Raf! I had no more time to give. You keep punishing me for it! How long will you sabotage my life to remind me of what you think I owe you?”

Raf nods, dangerously quiet, “Sabotage your life, huh?”

He takes a step closer until he’s looming over her.

“You know what’s truly sick, Val?” Raf spits, using his height as his only advantage in this virtueless fight, “You don’t even know which secret I told him.”

Support my bad habits and buy me a ko-fi!

Taglist: @smallerinfinities @the-claire-bitch-project @stillinskislydia @achinglyshawn @infiniteshawn @alone-in-madness @alone-in-madness @singanddreamanyway @accioalena @randi-eve @shawnitsmutual @embracehappy @itrocksmysocks @yslsaint

#shawn mendes #shawn mendes fanfic #shawn mendes fan fic #shawn mendes fanfiction #shawn mendes fan fiction #shawn peter raul mendes #shawn mendes fic #shawn mendes fluff #shawn mendes angst #punk!shawn #warped tour shawn

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nana-lew-rp · 5 years

Text

Start By Saying Hi, Ask Her What Her Name Is|| MortiL3w AprilAU

@suzydoozy @felixpierp @crywastaken-rp @wishes-in-the--markmark @jeremydooley-rp @goldenbrowncrownrp

Suzy had really thought he was the one. Guess not, but that was high school she guesses. Arin passing her in the halls made her both weak and angry. Seeing him walk around with her twin sister. She’s smart, at least, and doesn’t bring him to the house when she’s there and lets her know when he’s coming over. It looks like love, it sounds like love. She couldn’t be anything but bitter. Here she was once again: Thursday night karaoke with Ro, Cry, and Felix; drinking all the Shirley temples and burning out their juice and fruit smoothies at the bar; she’s been thinking about how many of her classmates come and do the same thing. Their school always let them out early on thursdays and fridays, even when the bus schedule didn’t add up. Suzy was one of the few girls who had to travel to the private campus everyday in order to get the college-prep education she needed. It was one cross-town train to the local trolley to the closest school bus pickup point. Hence, her friends hang out when they’re not working on thursday nights and drive her home so that she gets home okay. She could feel herself slipping, and her friends made her agree to this after she hadn’t made it home twice already because she had spaced out and missed her connections to get home. Confused, she could hear the voice in her head and hear *that* voice in her head. It had really put her in her paces.

She ignored it for so long and her mom had told her that the doubt monster is trying to come out, so she shouldn't open her mouth and let him out. And she was right, it was dumb. Being hung up on Arin like that. There were plenty of other things for her to focus on...right?

As much as she appreciated her friends, it felt real corny to sit at this bar and nosh on food playing the games, topping each other's scores on the arcade, and singing til they were tired like these times aren't changing soon. Or that, well, she was changing.

---------------------------------------------------- Shawna had to be picked up again from the hospital. Yet another catatonic episode. It was so bad that they considered electro-shock therapy to see if stimulating her nerves would produce different results in her brain chemistry. She had been in such a terrible spiral with Andrew, it was a miracle Ray and Jeremy said something when they could. She had just moved to this private school, and Ray and Jeremy agreed to come, too, so that she had familiar faces up there. So far, so good. She still overall didn't like to talk much. She'd gotten into the random fight here and there, but a fairly b-list child.

It just happened to be passed down to Ray that they could hang out at this little karaoke bar near the school and they could play at the arcade and sometimes the kids who played in bands or wrote poetry would be there. It was almost like everyone was welcome as long as they weren't jock assholes. He'd suggested that Thursday night they miss the usually early train out of the town and go to this place so that he can see about these scores being beat. Jeremy was taken by the word "score" but was totally excited. They brought Shawna because hopefully it'll take her mind off of things- anything but another night in the house helping her lockdown before bed or staying with her until she fell asleep. She needed to be strong, and her training started now. ---------------------------------------------------- "Suzy!" ... "Suze!" ........ "Suzy!!!" "Ugh...huh? What? Uhh I'm sorry. What was going on?" "You froze right before you could say yes-" the waiter began. "T-To what...exactly?.." "Uhh..let's see..she said her usual Cheap Date Cheese fries, a Comedy Comes In Threes with extra mozzarella sticks, a large dirty Chai ChaCha- hold the caramel made with soy milk-, Cresent Moon Burger with mushrooms, and the next available slot on stage-" "Yeah yeah she's good, shell take it," Felix jumped up, "Stagger out the food please but bring the drinks," he smiled at her, "She clearly had something catch her up...and while you're at it, can you throw in a virgin Sex on the Sunrise?" "Sure thing! I'll be right back with those drinks and listen out for your name." "Uhh...thanks," Suzy replied meekly, "Put it on my tab." "Are you gonna talk to her?" Cry asked leaning in and looking across the bar at the other booth to the group. "No!" Suzy bit back, turning her head back and forth, doodling on her napkin shakily. "Why not?" Felix asked, "You should make friends that aren't guys."

"Hmph!" Shawna pouted, folding her arms and leaning back as her milkshake and Comedy Comes in Threes is sat in front of her. I'm just saying that maybe if you weren't around as many of... us..then maybe you'd feel better about guys because a girl told you we're trash said Jeremy, signing to Shawna across the table. "Ew," Ray said, as she received her food, "You like to eat onions..I forgot." "But they're onion rings, they're battered and there's mozzarella sticks and corn fritters, so-" What in the hell is that? asked Jeremy. "The corn fritter?" she asked, sipping her milkshake, he nods, "It's just a cool mix of corn and cream corn fried up." "Ew," Ray interjected. Yum, Jeremy replied. Ray shook his head as he ate his fries and bit into his eggplant burger, Eggs Can't Plant Seeds. They ate quietly and were entertained by all the people going up for karoke and it wasn't long before Ray had pulled them into the arcade. Jeremy sat with yet another order of their Kastu Chicken Pops and a soda as Ray and Shawna competed furiously- yelling over the thumping and clacking of the cabinet controls.

Next Up: Shawna and Suzy! Both girls looked at the stage, nervous. Shawna doesn't usually sing and the song she picked doesn't require a lot of it so she took a few deep breaths and started towards the stage once Jeremy was done massaging her shoulders. Suzy was confused. She didn't know what person had picked to do the song she starts her night with. Nobody that she knows knew that song. And most people who came in wouldn't even utter the song into the mix because of it's tone. The girl hopped up and walked to the stage and saw the girl that had stopped her in her tracks earlier sauntering up to the steps on stage. Suzy was a bit overwhelmed that the girl was around the same height as her and that she smelled amazing. Her small frame didn't really match her huge wavy hair, but it hid her curves on purpose, and up close they could be seen. Shawna looked like she was a normal girl who liked the latest trends and wouldn't even know the song she picked. Maybe they just threw her up here on random because she's new and didn't know what to pick so they filled the space. It's a duet anyway so it makes sense.

Ray and Jeremy had been standing adjacent to the table where Felix, Cry and Ro's booth was located, but not to their knowledge. Felix had noticed and stood up to confront them.

"Yo," he said. Are we in the way? Can you not see? Jeremy asked almost futile when he turns around to see Felix in his face. "Sorry I don't speak not mouth words- Curly Top, you speak english?" he asked. "He asked if we are in yall way. And Curly Top isn't my name, it's Ray, pretty boy," Ray rebuttled. "I'm flattered but I'm taken," Felix replied, pointing a thumb behind him to Cry, "And no, you guys aint in the way. I'm actually wondering if you wanted to sit with us." The two boys looked at one another and then back to the Swede, "And just why would we do that?" Ray asked, making a face. "Why? Our friends are on stage right now. And our girl likes your girl. Maybe we should hang out. Plus you guys are new and we're regulars...Come on, drinks and apps on us," Felix offered, gesturing towards the stage, then to the table where Ro waved at the other boys. "Bold of you to assume we'd be up for it...And how exactly does your girl like Shawna?" Ray asked, pushing Jeremy's chest to hold him up as he had started to walk towards the table to sit down, "You don't know us-" "You go to the same school as us..That's an Institute tie. That's cause for trusting us- we would see each other tomorrow anyway," Felix had said, flipping the boy's loosened tie on Ray's chest, which he swatted his hand away. "Do not touch me, Blondie," Ray quickly replied, "And even then, why should we trust you?" "We hide here from the popular kids and wait for the bus for our girl upstage. We're here today only because she's going through a breakup and could use a distraction. And by distraction, I mean a bi-straction. Is your girl on the spectrum?" Jeremy nods, She's bi, but keep talking- oh! And get back to the food and drinks I want more! "Dude I still don't understand you. You think you could, like mouth your words or something? I really don't speak ASL-" "He said she's bi and he's just asking about the apps and drinks," Ray said, "I'm sure it's a tough time for her, but there's a girl sitting right there, isn't there?" "Yeah but she's taken by someone with a Y-chromosome. Are you her boyfriend or something?" "No but-" "Then let's just give it chance; if it doesn't work then you'll have gotten us out of some food and drinks and we can act like this night never happened-" "Let me finish! Mr. Adonis!" Ray said, "I'm not her boyfriend but our whole reason for being here is because she got out of a very messy relationship as well and she needs to not worry about dating anyone just yet. If you're trying to get her to join some...crazy threesome-" "God! They're about to start, yes or no?!" Felix snapped. "Sure thing...but please also works," Ray shrugged as the moved past him and sat with the rest of Suzy's group. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Those flashing lights come from everywhere... Shawna watched the girl take the other microphone and pull the stand closer to her. The stage lights moved to point to the disco ball that turned in the corny fashion of the bar. The music slowly rose and her hands started to sweat and her heart began to race. She clutched the microphone as the song began and knew she had time to get herself together before the song had any vocal parts. She looked at the other girl next to her. She was intense even in all of this dark lighting, but she could feel her apprehension at them sharing a stage. Suzy had her uniform on but the sleeves of her jacket were rolled up, her long black hair loose and sitting on her shoulders (as opposed to the strict ponytails and braids they are allowed while class is in session) with her tie undone. Her rebellious look contrasted Shawna's wildly and then she hadn't noticed that the girl was trying to get her attention before her voice had brought her out of the focusing she was doing.

The way it hit'er, I just stop and stare, but I... Suzy had scanned the other girl over as she climbed up the stage herself and got in position. It's not the first time that she's had to share the stage with another person during a song that she picked and it's fine usually; however, today garnered more trouble because she had developed a crush on the other girl almost at first sight. She now got a good look at the girl. She's so...simple. Her hair fluffled out from obviously being in two french braids and a bang all day, causing wavy mane that fell just right. She wore light red lipstain over the other's black lipstick, which she couldn't get away from because her lips were so naturally full. Her frame was slight and curvy. She yanked her eyes back up as the music prompted the girl to start. She began slowly and watched the girl. Taking a longer pause with a larger breath into the lyric. Her cheeks were starting to feel hot but she held strong through the musical flourish and looked at the girl one more time to see if she'd fill in the song.

I'm lovestoned and I could swear that she knows. I think that she knows, oh..oh... Shawna jumped into the second verse and turned to the girl next to her and was so intimidated. Even though it was a song they both knew independently, it felt like they knew the song together in that moment for the first time. She bit her lip when she breathed and tried to lose herself in the lights. It made her feel faint, so she tried to side step out of the beam, crashing into the girl. Instead of getting pushed, she felt an arm around her sides, which stabilized her. Her hunched, defenseive state relaxed into the girl and her light perfume she still had on. From where she stood now, Shawna could see her friends sitting with a bunch of other kids who went to the school, a couple she had seen before. Everyone had heard or at least seen the blonde boy with the accent and his boyfriend with the mask. She hadn't been there very long and knew of them. She's friends with those boys? She's way out of her element here.

Those flashing lights come from everywhere (those flashing lights come from everywhere) Suzy joined her and felt so excited by their duet coming together, not to mention the fact that she's holding the girl's side to keep her from stumbling off of the stage. She turns to her and backs up, holding the girl's hand instead as she sang. It was cute that they were around the same height and donned two different styles. However, it just felt like this isn't the end. They continued the duet and her and Shawna finally locked eyes, their brown eyes shining in the light. Shawna's honey pots showed her benevolence and just sweet approach to things, where Suzy was a little rough around the edges in looks and her willingness to remain consistent. No girl in the school really chooses to express her goth style like her, and after years of getting punished for violations to the uniform and petitioned for some relaxation of the uniform policy at the school, which through her diligence and some concessions, she had won. Shawna looked to Suzy like a girl who only has enough personality to follow the guidelines, and feels as though some people can't just not be themselves for the sake of eduaction for several hours. It was the type of plain that made her want to know if there was anything underneath, even if she stole just an additional glance from her it would let her know that she's not always the straight arrow she presents herself to be.

The way they hit'er I just stop and stare (stop and stare), I'm loved stoned from everywhere (everywhere) and she knows, I think that she knows, oh..oh.. Shawna was dazed and really encompassed in the song, especially when she looked into the eyes of the girl in front of her. She wanted Suzy not to leave her side, her touch felt so needed. Everything about her when she came into this restaurant was dead until she touched her side. She was welling up with courage for when the song ended to say what she needed to say and hopefully, find out how she can see this girl at school. She had Jeremy and Ray here, she wasn't about to leave them alone while she either made a new friend or invested time in a new fling, plus she had to go home. However, she would be willing to get chewed out for this. For her, at least. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- They finished the song nearly kissing and their friends looked at one another around the table, knowing that something had happened on stage. Shawna was rosy with embarrassment, her neck exposed from her pushing her hair to one side as to give herself more air. Suzy, who was just as sweaty, hadn't realized they had walked down off the stage hand in hand, and when she released it, she wiped her hand on her skirt. That was the hottest karaoke I've ever seen, said Jeremy. "Oh my god, shut up, Jerry!" Shawna snapped at him, sliding on the end next to Ray, who threw an around her. "Have fuuun up there? It looks like you did," Ray asked, biting into a corn fritter, handing the girl one out of the basket, "Have you had these? Here, eat one."

"Yeah, did you have fun up there, Suze?" Ro asked, smiling at her as she beamed, it gave her such a delight to see her friend full of life again. "She just eye-fucked the hell outta that girl, are you kidding me?" Cry said, laughing as he took another mozzarella stick, receiving a gentle nudge from Felix. "Please excuse my boyfriend, he's had one too many RedBull By the Horns," Felix said calmly, but his smile never left him. "Wait, you two are dating?" Shawna asked after swallowing her bite, "I almost couldn't tell, I'm sorry." "You weren't really supposed to, because the school can be really weird about gay couples, but yes they are extremely gay and in a homosexual relationship," Suzy said, sipping her drink, keeping eye contact with the girl on the other side of the table.

There was a little bit of silence as Shawna at times shied away from her gaze, then returned it, both giggling at each other. "You said you guys were outcasts, I don't think that's true," Ray challenged, not paying attention to his friend engaging in quiet flirting. "We are, most of the people at the school are vloggers, who do you know that's there who bakes, games or even vlogs nerdy dark shit like Suzy? You don'!" Felix explained, pointing a finger and dipping a Katsu Chicken Pop into the sauce and eating it. We're nobodies. And Shawna's new, we're like, transplanted nobodies, Jeremy mentioned. "Hahah...yeah, they get it, Jer, we're nobodies," Shawna said, sipping her drink and then shifting her focus back to Suzy, who gestured they play in the arcade alone. "But we're nobodies who have a bond, we understand ASL," Ray said, not paying attention to Shawna getting up from the table.

"Is that a thing you did for Jeremy, or was it like, something you guys just happened to know?" Ro asked, watching Suzy and Shawna sneak off with their drinks and a basket of Comedy Comes in Threes. "We're not a couple and I've known him for years and he actually taught me for years, labour for the love of friendship," Ray said, "Easy to talk to him privately when people just think you look weird." "I will give you that, it does raise your friend dynamic factor significantly," Cry mentioned, then noticing two girls and a basket of food gone, "Where's the Comedy Comes in Threes?" "Shawna and Suzy took it with them on their first date to the arcade," Ray said, pointing behind them to the arcade where the girls were playing and talking.

"Good, I hate onions," Felix said, shrugging. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Shawna and Suzy were laughing it up as they talked at the foosball table, discussing things and various interests. "This is the first time I've seen you around here, and in Institute colours..You new?" Suzy asked, working their way around a pool table. "Uhhmmm, yes..but only a few months," Shawna replied, lining up her shot, listening to the balls clack, the cue ball not making one sink. "Few months, huh?..Well, I've been there a couple o' years as of next August," she replied, sinking her ball and watching the others around it fall in. "Oh..uhh, okay..I-Is it...hard?" Shawna asked, looking up at her again, "You know..getting therapy and going to school up there, like can you keep your grades?" "Yeah, they make it, real easy..even if you miss class because you needed extra treatment..They give you tests and time in study halls to catch up for the next tests and even offer exam prep." "Wooww...The placement test to get in-" "Is just a ploy for the parents to think this is some ivy league college prep school when really it's for-" "People like us?" They gave long stares at one another as they laughed lightly and exchanged glances longingly, wondering what their next move was as Shawna put up their cues and followed her with just their drinks to a Mrs. Pac-Man cabinet. Suzy brushed against the girl's waist with her forearem, causing her to turn around to respond, but found her side against the game's side. Shawna's eyes met with the other girl's in the dim light with other colours surrounding them. Shawna breathed a little, feeling the coolness of the acrylic against her back through her shirt and made her aware enough to look around and realize they're in between two games, and not originally facing the dining room like she thought before. It was quieter and much nicer to hear her and chat, and the game they both wanted to play was right there when they were done. Their legs crossed one another and made it comfortable in this cramped spot, the music just enough, but not too much. She became a little concerned about her safety. Her friends don't know their way around this arcade and she's tucked in between someplace in this dark, crowded bar. She breathed hard and felt fingers on her chin, "Did you know that you beat me?" Suzy asked, looking at the girl across from her. "Huh..huh..what?" Shawna asked, getting more aware again, following the movement to the other girl's eyes, "What'd I do?" "You beat me..in pool. I figured you'd checked out because I touched you..It confused you. Crowded and loud isn't your style," Suzy explained, looking at her and stroking her face with her thumb, "It's alright you can relax. I'm not gonna do anything crazy." Shawna never felt more grounded in that moment. She was looking at Suzy, who had an unsure smile on her face as well. She's been here before and she's certainly done this before. Who exactly had she done this with to figure this out? It doesn't really matter right now, does it? Whatever the case was, she was good at it. Her eyes glowed in the soft light and her hair was cascading over her shoulder. Her hand was soaked with sweat, but it was from her hand, and it trembled a little. She wasn't together, either. This was all rather intimate. Suzy smiled at the girl as best she could, and liked that she smiled back. They continued talking about how they learned to play pool and how they both like quite a few of the same arcade games. They giggled and laughed as they sipped their drinks and spoke to one another, hearing and watching occasional people pass them by, but no one ever noticed. It was their own little getaway in the middle of a crowd. Shawna warmed up as soon as she realized that's what was happening. The next thing she knew the girl was playing with the tail of the bottom of her button down, still glancing back up, but was biting her lip. God, she'd never seen someone bit their lip and turn her on like that. Suzy took her lips in and made eye contact with the girl again. "You know what you're doing, right?" Suzy asked, leaning back and chuckling nervously, her frustration blowing out of her breath. Shawna took her lip in one more time, then nodded slowly with a smile. She still held onto the girl's shirt and started to wind her hand to pull her back in. Suzy obliged and quickly pushed her hands up the side of the girl's face and pressed against her, kissing her lips gently. It took the both of them off guard, Shawna bringing her hands away from her shirt and underneath, pulling the girl in by her waist, feeling her soft skin. Their skin grew hotter even though their position stayed the same.

"What do you think they're doing?" Ro asked, forking around her Pie in the Sky cake. "They're not in the bathroom, so they're not fucking," Ray mentioned, shrugging. "They're probably still in the arcade," Cry said, rubbing a sleepy Felix's arm. I saw them there, but it seems they disappeared, Jeremy said. "Suzy likes to hide between the games when she's overwhelmed and can't focus," Ro explained, "It muffles the sound and the noise." "Great, so they're fucking in between the games in an arcade," Ray said, "I'm not breaking that up." "Ew! And stop saying those things..It's way too gross over there, it's only in emergencies-" Ro began, then her face fell apart at the thought, and she shuttered before her phone rang, "Hello?...Uh yeah, we're still at the bar..I'm waiting for Su-...I'm on my way.." "You gotta go?" Cry asked, looking at Ro. "Mark was just checking in, I'm supposed to uh..he's making sure I get uhh..we have to study..it's getting late," Ro stumbled through the words after the phone call. "Okay you can go ahead, Rosie," Felix said, finally awake again, and getting up, "I'm gonna walk you to the train and Cry can grab the two newlyweds." "Oh..okay..we just gonna drive them home-" Cry began to ask. We're just chopped liver? Jeremy signed, with confusion on his face. "Them includes you two. I don't think it'll matter. We're just gonna hang out until these two gotta go home," Cry continued, "Where does she live?" "Hallowed Grove, off 5th, it's a 2-hour train ride from the school," Ray explained, "30-minute walk to the train station." "Sounds like we're going in the same direction, she lives on 13th a little past Markle," Cry says, "It's a 20-minute walk to the 15-minute bus to the station, 2-hour 15-minute train ride." "Wow, that's far," Ray said, looking at Jeremy, "Well, we can get a ride from Shawna's house." "Fine. We should get going, we've got a test in the morning," Cry said, pulling his car keys out of his pocket. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Shawna and Suzy are pulled out of their world by Cry, and they follow one another hand in hand. Their friends all pile into Cry's mom's minivan, and drive off into the night. The ride in the car is fairly quiet due to the energy being drained from the bar. Shawna and Suzy continue to coo with one another and talk quietly while the others sleep and Felix drives. "So uhh...what happened with your ex?" Shawna asked, tracing imaginary lines into Suzy's stomach. "He was cheating on me with my sister, and is currently dating her. She's very respectful about it, but he's..relentless. She tries not to tell me anything about him or what he says, but we go to the same school. It's unavoidable.." She explained, "Wh-what about you?" "He and I hit it off even though we're on two different side of the high school food chain..Then he told me all of this was for his childhood friend who wouldn't date him yet and that I essentially didn't matter. He was the reason I breathed...and then, she died in a drunk driver incident and...he rejected me even after he tried to take his own life for her. And...just like that..everyone hated me, when I liked being ignored better," Shawna sighed, picking the dirt out of her nails and shrugging. Suzy nods and bites her lip, "So..are you really..uh..uhm...or is it for show?" "Are you questioning my sexuality?" Shawna asked, giving her a confused look to which Suzy stares. The brunette giggles and kisses the girl's cheek, "I've known since I was like 13..I didn't do it a lot and at times Andrew would exploit it, but...I hadn't been in a real relationship with a girl before." "Oh..Well I-I dunno.. This all just kinda..felt..right? You know, just for the time. I'm not straight? I just..I dunno," Suzy stumbled, getting embarassed. "It's alright. I'm not in the market of judgement. I blame the song. It's very suggestive of lesbian attraction," Shawna joked lightly, making Suzy smile, "You don't have to care if you don't want to. We had fun tonight, and I know my friends wanted that for me. Plus, I'd tell you when I'd make you my girlfriend...and it's just not something I'm in the business of. I'd hate to do to someone what Andrew did to me...or worse..c-cus..I don't know anything else right now..you know?" "I like that," Suzy said with a nod, cuddling to Shawna, "I'd let you take the lead anyway, because I have no clue what I'm doing at all!" "I wouldn't be so quick to say that..You have a certain way about you that took me out of my usual slump lately, and being on stage with you had me breathless..you've got an appeal. It's not mysterious, but I just was... enamoured about what you'd do to me," Shawna explained, getting lost again in the moments. "Wow...You..you think so?" Suzy asked, looking up at the girl, messing with the bottom of her skirt. "Yeah..we don't have to be..like..together, but if you wanna see where this leads..f-for science reasons-" "You mean like Felix and Ryan?" Suzy mentioned, "Except that..they're like, actually gay? They had a trial period for a while and we're doing it at first for a completely different reason, but now..they're.." "Happy?" "Yeah..happy..I think that's why we have friends and some friends become our boyfriends and girlfriends," Shawna said, giving a weak smile, "That's what Andrew told me, at least when he acted like he really loved me." "I think the words were more true than the person," Suzy added, "We should cast a spell on him." "He's graduating from my old school this year, I think karma's worked a whole bunch in my favor," Shawna rebutted. "Nothing crazy, just some unfortunate happenings and a few nightmares of his twisted game," Suzy said, "That's what I've been doing to Arin." "You're a witch?" Shawna asked, getting more direct, "I mean..there's nothing wrong, but..do you have a coven?" "Well I mean I'm trying..right now it's me, Leda, and Kristen-" "And let me guess, they're together too?" "Nope..Kristen's been trying to cast a love spell on this guy in her history class named PJ, and Leda's...I dunno what Leda does. Sometimes she's with Charlie, sometimes she's not, sometimes she's with Cyr, sometimes she's not. We see her deal with this Cameron guy every once and a while," Suzy said, "So they'd be okay with no strings attached for me and a fourth." "Uhh..I'll see about being a fourth, but I'd like to see about casting the spell on him...as for no strings attached..I'm down if you're down." "GOD! ONE OF YOU SAY YES!" Felix snapped from the front seat. "FUCK YOU!" the girls said in unison, then looked at one another and laughed, sharing a kiss.

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palmettofoxden · 6 years

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Do you think you could write some Kevin/Jeremy? Because that would be awesome

I absolutely love Kevin/Jeremy, so you have come to the right place. I’ve been rambling about them again and I don’t know if there’ll still be more of this afterwards or not but this is what I’ve got so far:

So they’re at a banquet and Kevin is already pre-tipsy and upset because it’s the first banquet without Riko around and the Foxes are kinda salty because Kevin should be glad he’s free, not drinking to get through it.

Kevin is pretty much done with the Foxes and his judgy judge besties Neil and Andrew so he’s like fuck this I miss Jean and Jeremy is so much nicer than these assholes.

Kevin is not supposed to be sitting at the Trojan table, but no one stops him when he does. He’s so famous and pretty and charming that it’s just allowed.

Jean’s kind of eying Renee across several tables because why is this happening, but Jeremy is just chatting Kevin up like there is nothing out of the ordinary and he’s always excited to get a chance to catch up with Kevin.

Kevin’s only a little tipsy at this point. But he wants to stop thinking about missing Riko, so instead he focuses on what he can to try to get through the banquet. Which is what he can do now because Riko isn’t here. Like sit and socialize with the Trojans and like flirting with someone publicly without having to worry about them paying for it and his publicity took enough major hits that he recovered from and he’s playing with his left hand again and a champion and he’s feeling a little invincible and mostly hella infatuated with Jeremy as usual. And Jeremy’s been flirting with Kevin for years but they’ve never gotten past mildly flirty friendship because Kevin couldn’t. But tipsy Kevin wants to flirt with Jeremy more and wants to spend time with the Trojans and wants to ignore his team.

Andrew and Neil are keeping an eye on Kevin from a distance, but Kevin’s safer here than he has been in a long time so they’re not too worried. Even when the music starts and people are dancing and Kevin and Jeremy start dancing, they know he’s not in danger from it so they leave it alone. Jeremy half joke offers to dance with Kevin, expecting Kevin to take the out and laugh it off like he always does but he has to ask, especially when Kevin’s spending so much time with him tonight. This time Kevin doesn’t laugh.

Kevin’s not even drunk yet, but he’s dancing with Jeremy because he wants to and no one’s gonna stop him or attack Jeremy for it. And the Foxes are kind of surprised, but like also there was definitely a bet on whether Kevin was really as straight as he claims to be with how he acts around Jeremy and the whole wouldn’t go more than a Minyard away from Andrew at any given time for like a year thing.

For now Kevin ‘hasn’t danced since before Neil joined the team’ Day is fast dancing with Jeremy. Slow dancing comes later. He’s less sober for it.

Kevin has at least one flask on his person and every time he thinks too much about Riko he either escalates things with Jeremy to distract himself or drinks. Jeremy kind of helps with the not letting Kevin drink too much because goody two shoes Jeremy drinks from Kevin’s flask whenever Kevin offers. Which is every time he takes a swig. Kevin takes bigger swings though and he was tipsy to start so at any given point he’s more drunk than Jeremy.

Jeremy happily listens to Kevin talk about exy. Jeremy has things to add. Jeremy is so much more pleasant to be around than the guilt tripping Foxes that Kevin’s still annoyed with.

And the weird thing is Kevin is starting to get drunk and in a bad place, but he’s still happier than usual around Jeremy. He’s not putting on the there are cameras here face. He’s laughing too hard at something Jeremy said and it’s not because he’s fake laughing. It kind of weirds the Foxes out.

It’s weirding Jean out too.

Jeremy somehow gets even happier and more excited when he’s drunk (or maybe that’s just the more time he spends around Kevin) and Kevin is feeding off of his energy.

Kevin’s not so sober, but in a good mood still when a slow song comes on and they slow dance and Jeremy’s so strong and warm and Kevin doesn’t even care about other people anymore. He likes it here with his head on Jeremy’s shoulder. He’s a little disappointed when the slow song ends and they stop dancing like that, but he still feels warm all over from the alcohol and from Jeremy.

Kevin’s night is really looking up. And then comes the Riko tribute part.

Kevin’s not drunk enough for this part. No one warned him about this. Now that he thinks about it, it shouldn’t be a surprise. It was meant as a surprise for him and the Ravens though. Kevin tries not to visibly panic and focuses all of his energy on breathing normally as someone starts talking about what a great player he was and how missed he is and son of exy and Kevin can’t totally hear all of it. It’s just coming in clipped bits while he stares at the slideshow of Riko pictures. He’s in every one. Kids or not, they have those numbers on their faces. He feels sick and he can’t look away. He wonders where Andrew is, but this isn’t something Andrew can protect him from anyways.

He manages to tear his eyes away from it to look for Jean. He can’t see him past the other people. Too many people are looking at him, watching for his reaction. He doesn’t want to look back at the pictures, but his eyes have a mind of their own. They’re still talking about Riko. Kevin hears his own name interspersed in there but he doesn’t know why. For a while they’re just talking about him and Riko. He hopes that if it is visible that there is something wrong with him people assume that it is just grief and not something more complicated. And then they point out Kevin and Jean. Riko’s brother/best friend/right hand man and their old friend handpicked to be on Riko’s elite court. Kevin locks eyes with Jean for a second and almost regrets it. Jean looks as sick as he feels. Kevin can’t do this. He can’t be here anymore. Except then they call on him as the person who knew Riko best and was closest to him in the world to come up and say a few words about him. Jean leaves. Kevin uses it as an excuse to bolt too. The general consensus is Jean was overwhelmed with grief and had to leave and Kevin was too and went to go check on him/they went to lean on each other. Jean had already disappeared by the time Kevin made it out of there to try to get away from the banquet and to try to check on Jean. He saw Renee go after Jean though. She’s better with him anyways. Kevin doesn’t know what he’d say and he’s a little busy having a panic attack of his own. Jeremy was right next to him, so he shows up first where Kevin has collapsed outside the banquet. Andrew and Neil make it there a minute later.

Jeremy crouches down next to him and asks “Are you okay?” Kevin’s not, so he doesn’t say anything. Neil is kind of the worst of the why are you upset about Riko being dead people and Andrew isn’t much better. Neil would be better off around Jean with his opening line of “You won. He’s dead and you’re still here. He can’t do anything to you.” At least he says it in French so Jeremy doesn’t understand it. Kevin doesn’t want them there. He tells Andrew and Neil to leave him alone and when they don’t, he tells Jeremy he’s ready to go back inside. Jeremy isn’t totally sure of what’s going on, but Kevin reaches his hand up and moves to get up, so Jeremy grabs his hand and helps him while eying Andrew and Neil half apologetically, half suspiciously. Andrew and Neil let Kevin drag Jeremy back toward the banquet. Wymack meets them halfway back and tells Kevin “I didn’t know. I would have warned you.” Kevin says “I know.” Wymack kind of glances down at the intertwined hands and Jeremy as if he is noticing Jeremy’s presence at all and the hand holding for the first time, but then his focus is all on Kevin again as he pulls out a flask and asks “Are you okay? Do you need this?” Kevin already had his share of alcohol, especially for a supposed to be dry event, but he takes the flask anyways with a slight nod that was maybe supposed to be a thanks or maybe an answer to the question about whether he’s okay or not. Kevin isn’t particularly sure either. He just knows he’s gonna be a lot more okay with more alcohol in his system and with Jeremy, away from Andrew and Neil.

So Kevin goes from kind of drunk and having fun to really drunk and not having fun and this is the point when flirty fun with drinking turns to Jeremy looking after Kevin and not taking things any further. Jean and Renee resurface a little later and Jean looks a lot calmer with Renee’s elbow hooked in his. He’s still a little shaky and drained of colour though. Kevin isn’t dancing anymore. He’s sitting there drunk and Jeremy keeps a hand on him to hopefully keep him steady. His hand is on Kevin’s knee, but he figures it’s okay because Kevin doesn’t seem to mind and Jeremy had his hand on Kevin’s knee like this earlier in the night when Kevin was at the Trojan table. Kevin knows he could leave. Wymack would get all the Foxes on the bus and they would be out of there in under five minutes. But then he’d be around his team again, stuck in a bus with them judging him for being upset. And he’d have to leave Jean here without him and Renee. And he’d have to leave Jeremy and he feels a little better here with Jeremy and he doesn’t want to leave USC, where this banquet is being hosted this year, yet. He wants to stay with Jeremy. He wants to go back to happy party drunk, not sad drunk breaking down in the back of a bus. So he sticks around and when the banquet ends, he knows it is time to go back to the Foxes and instead he turns and asks Jeremy “Can I stay at your place tonight?” Jeremy looks concerned and torn as he says “I really like you, Kevin, but I don’t think that’s a good idea. You’re drunk and upset and you’re-“ But Kevin cuts him off and says “I know. I don’t mean like that. I mean just stay there so I don’t have to face my team. I want to avoid it.” Jeremy mulls it over very briefly before he says “Okay, you can stay with me. Just let your team know so they don’t worry about you. Or do you want me to do it?” Kevin shakes his head and says “No. I’ll tell Coach.”

Kevin is such a mess and Jeremy is worried about him. Wymack is okay with it because Jeremy is nice and because Kevin just wants to crash on his couch and get a break from the team and Wymack knows tensions have been running high and figures that isn’t the worst thing for Kevin right now. So Kevin tells Jeremy he knows and the Foxes leave together and Kevin leaves with Jeremy.

Back at Jeremy’s dorm, Kevin is drunk and a little confessional. Jeremy wants to make sure he’s okay, so he asks about how Kevin is doing after the Riko thing and Kevin starts talking about how he knows what Riko was like and he knows he was a good player but wasn’t a good person and what was he supposed to say about him? They already talked about him as a player and they expected him to say something more personal about what he was like and Kevin couldn’t lie, but he couldn’t just go up there and tell the truth about the things Riko did to him and Neil and Jean and other Ravens. And Riko’s supposed to be a tragic saint in public and the devil in private and Kevin is supposed to be the mourning brother who thinks Riko has never done any wrong in public and in private he’s supposed to hate him and he can’t do either. The Riko thing is too complicated and he ends up guilty about every way he feels about things involving Riko whether it’s caring too much or not enough.

Jeremy actually listens and doesn’t judge Kevin for being conflicted and confused and Kevin may or may not drunk cry on Jeremy’s chest while Jeremy strokes his hair and reassures him that he’s allowed to feel conflicted about it. Kevin doesn’t sleep on the couch like he told Wymack. Jeremy is a fucking sweetheart and loans Kevin pajama pants and even a t shirt and makes Kevin take some advil so his hangover won’t be so bad in the morning and makes sure Kevin is all comfy and settled in his bed before he gets in on the other side and they just sleep.

Kevin wakes up in the morning with a headache and then opens his eyes and sees Jeremy there and lowkey panics because oh fuck did he have sex with Jeremy? What happened at the banquet? He looks down and pulls the blanket up to check if they’re clothed and yup, they’re fully clothed in Jeremy’s pajamas. And then it all starts coming back to him and he’s embarrassed and still annoyed with the Foxes (especially Neil) and he is even more into Jeremy because wtf Jeremy is so sweet and looked after him so well and put up with his shit and let him stay there. Jeremy woke up when Kevin panic rolled and lifted the blankets and he’s watching Kevin now and Kevin is embarrassed and doesn’t want Jeremy to see him blushing, so he pushes his face down into the pillow and lifts the edge of it up to try to hide his face from Jeremy. Jeremy laughs and Kevin blushes into the pillow more. He can’t see it, but Jeremy is smiling at him and looking at him so smitten.

Kevin still doesn’t want to go back to the Foxes because he wants to avoid them after the banquet and because he wants to stay around Jeremy for longer. Jeremy reaches over to try to pull the pillow back down, but Kevin pushes it up harder. Jeremy could probably push it down again if he really wanted to, but he gives up and runs his fingers through Kevin’s hair instead. Kevin slowly leans into the touch and stops hiding his face so he can eye Jeremy curiously. Jeremy smiles at him so soft and sweet and asks “How do you feel?” Kevin’s pretty sure he’s asking how he’s feeling about the whole Riko thing, but instead of giving a real answer about that, he just says “My head hurts.”

Jeremy unceremoniously shifts closer and kisses the side of Kevin’s head because Kevin’s head hurts and Kevin just fucking freezes enough that Jeremy falters and loses his confidence and starts to wonder if Kevin flirting back and acting actually interested and not just casually flirty like he usually would was a combination of drinks and being upset that he regrets this morning. So Jeremy asks “Was that okay?” And Kevin murmurs “Do it again.”

Jeremy’s lips twitch up and he kisses Kevin again, but on the cheek this time and asks “Like this?” Kevin’s cheeks are getting warm again, but he is already in deep enough that it’s obvious his thing for Jeremy isn’t a one-sided thing, so he grabs Jeremy’s cheek before he can roll away and stray too far again and says “Like this” and stretches up to kiss Jeremy on the lips.

#All for the Game #Keremy #Kevin Day #Jeremy Knox #Ask #Anonymous #Personal #There are probably some typos in here

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marmelade-sky · 7 years

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u mentioned in smthn recently kevin "getting drunk with Neil and Jean on the anniversary of Riko’s death and collecting reasons why Riko deserved to die." which is just such a sick concept, could u write that scene??

Hello dear followers, readers and above all, lovely mutuals

I have gotten so many sweet anon messages from people asking if I was alright, and letting me know they support me and look forward to more writing. And all of those messages were so incredibly sweet and good for me and my mental state. It’s all a little hard rn, trying to be an actual adult, and so that was really… nice to hear. A big fat Thank you to everybody who messaged me. I hope we soon have wifi, and I can be online more again. Until then, please be patient with me. You can still send prompts ofc, but you might have to wait a little until I’m filling it.

You guys keep me want to write, and just… thank you. This fandom is such a nice community.

alright, enough with the sappy shit, let’s get on with this. This contains Jerejean because i love them. Sorry not sorry.

Not beta’d. Sorry :D

It’s been a year, and they are drawn together like some kind of gravity is working its power on them. Some sick force, pulling them together by their bad memories, their trauma, their common denominator.

Riko Moriyama.

He’s been under the earth for a whole year now, dead and probably rotting away in his grave. They have to remember it from time to time, that he’s gone.

Kevin, when his hand hurts when the weather changes, or when he looks at Wymack showing him thumbs up after a particularly good game and he feels like he’s dreaming.

Jean, when he traces the lines on his body, so many scars, all of them inflicted by Riko. The scars in his soul aren’t traceable, but he knows they’re there, too, when Jeremy hugs him and Jean tenses up for just a second before relaxing and remembering he is allowed to hug back, he is allowed to bury his nose in Jeremy’s hair and enjoy this for himself.

Neil has to remember it when he looks at Andrew sometimes, and when he looks in the mirror and sees the marred skin of his cheek where the “4″ had been.

It’s Renee who asks Jean to spend the weekend with them. Jean reluctantly agrees. Jeremy doesn’t try to talk him out of it at all, even though Jean had half expected him. Jean and Kevin haven’t talked since the day Jean left to join the Trojans.

He’s nervous when he arrives at the airport. But Renee is there with her colorful hair and her sweet smile. And it’s alright.

“Kevin.”

“Jean.”

They stand in the doorway awkwardly, facing each other. Kevin still looks the same. But at the same time, he doesn’t. His hair is growing longer. Back at the nest, this haircut would have been unacceptable.

“You… had it covered up.”, Kevin says relucantly, pointing to his own cheek where the queen chess piece covers his number 2. Jean touches his own fingertips to his own tattoo.

“Yeah.”

Kevin avoids his gaze. “…good for you. I-… uh, I heard you’re getting on well with… with the Trojans, and… it’s… is it… are you…?” He looks up, and Jean wants to slap him suddenly.

“No.”, he simply replies, answering Kevin’s unasked question. “…I’m not alright. But I’m better.”

Kevin chews on his bottom lip and nods curtly. “…good.”, he eventually says. “Good.”

Jean likes Neil, for some reason. He has more of a spine than Kevin, and he doesn’t ask Jean any nonsensical questions.

Jean isn’t quite sure why Neil is dating Minyard now, but he seems happy with him. Jean sees him smile across the table at Andrew when they’re out for pizza in the evening.

The Foxes seem to have grown closer. Everyone is invited for the dinner, and Jean notices that they seem… friendlier together. Maybe that’s why they’re a better team now. Not maybe, definitely.

Jean texts Jeremy under the table. Renee sees and just smiles, patting his thigh.

They get drunk. Of course they do.

Kevin is still an alcoholic, Jean knows that much. Some bad habits don’t die. And tonight, on the anniversary of Riko’s death, Jean, too, needs a drink. Or several.

They end up on the court. Jean doesn’t really remember how. The ceiling spins above him as he stretches out on the polished wooden floor. He distantly remembers Minyard driving them here. But now they’re alone, Neil, Kevin and him. Why? Whose idea was that…? Jean can’t remember.

“He’s… he’s fucking dead…”, Kevin eventually says into the big silence of the court.

“He deserved it.”, Neil adds, and there is no regret in his voice. He spits the words out with the honesty Jean admires about him.

A strangled noise escapes Kevin. “Don’t…don’t say that.”

Neil, who has been lying on his back as well, sits up and points at Kevin. “He fucking did deserve it. He broke your hand. He cut me up into pieces. He treated Jean like a dog.”

Jean doesn’t flinch. But something in his chest stirs. “…he was a bad person.” The words come out lazily and slowly.

Neil grunts in agreement.

They fall silent again.

After several minutes, right when Jean’s eyes threaten to fall close, Kevin speaks again. His voice is quiet, timid, almost. “…do you remember when he broke my nose?”, he asks, and it’s clear that it’s directed at Jean.

Jean does remember. It was one of the rare occasions Riko had actually taken out his rage on Kevin instead of Jean.

“…he slammed the butt of his racket into your face.”, Jean drawls with a low sigh. “…later that night, he let Jake fuck me.” Jean has never talked about that with Kevin. He is sure Kevin knew though, back then.

There was another silence, until Neil says, “…we should make a list.”

“What list?” Jean slowly rolls to his side. His stomach grumbles unhappily, filled with liquor.

“Reasons why Riko deserved to die- stop choking, Kevin.”

Kevin is coughing now, red in the face, pressing a hand to his sternum. When he speaks, his voice is an octave higher than usual. “Reasons…?” He is clearly scandalized. Old habits die hard.

“Yes, let’s.”, Jean agrees after a moment. “Reason one, he fucked up Kevin Day.”

Kevin glares at Jean. Jean doesn’t know how Kevin isn’t going cross eyed. He has half a bottle of vodka in his system, after all.

“Reason two, the stupid fucking tattoos.”, Neil adds, and to his own surprise, Jean laughs.

“Fuck yeah.”

“Reason three.” Jean and Neil go quiet when Kevin speaks. “…he… he told me I was nothing without him, and he broke my hand.”

“Reason four.”, Neil adds, “…he was an egocentric, manic and manipulative asshole.”

Jean nodds strongly. “…yes.”

Another silence settls over them.

“…he forbade me to speak french. …that’s reason five.”, Jean adds after a moment.

“You did, anyway.” Kevin is smiling down at his own hands when Jean looks over to him.

“Yes.”

“Reason six: he was bad with knives.” Neil runs a thumb over a scar right above his elbow.

As Jean tries to think of another reason, something ridiculous comes to his mind, and he has to laugh again. It feels weird to laugh, especially about Riko, about this, but laughing makes the tight feeling in his chest losen up. “Reason seven should be the way he pronounced ‘court’. It always sounded like… card.” It’s lame, a lame reason, but he’s still laughing, and now, Neil is too.

“It did. Caaaahrt.”

Jean snorts because he is laughing so hard. “Fuck, yes.”

Kevin isn’t laughing, but smiling.

Neil’s and Jean’s laughter dies down after some time, and silence settles over the Foxhole court again.

“…he’s really dead.”, Kevin says into it after several minutes. “He’s dead. Riko is dead.”

Jean thinks Kevin sounds like he’s tasting every syllable of the sentence in his mouth.

#aftg #mywriting #promptfill #skyspeaks #all for the game #Jean Moreau #kevin day #neil josten #riko moriyama #fic #aftg fic #andreil #fanfiction #tfc #the foxhole court

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allforthequeen · 7 years

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Mine

Pairing: Andreil

Prompt: “@mac-noa Could you do a prompt where Neil gets hit on by a lot of people and is completely oblivious about it. The foxes think it’s hilarious and Andrew doesn’t mind as long as they don’t get too close”

The first time it happened, Neil was already late for practice as a consequence of falling asleep in the library again.

As he flew down the steps, Neil felt his phone vibrate, and seconds after he stopped to dig it out of his pocket he was tumbling as the weight of another body went with him. When he hit the pavement, the body sprawled out on top of him groaned a little bit before jumping off of him shrieking in delight. “Oh my god you’re on the Exy team!” Neil rolled over onto his back to see a small girl, hair pulled up into a tight ponytail to keep it from covering her obnoxiously bright “Go Foxes!” sweatshirt. “Sorry, what?” Neil squinted and sat up a little bit and ran a hand through his hair. “No, don’t even apologize oh my god I don’t even care. You’re Neil Josten!” The girl continued to squeal excitedly and Neil groaned as the high pitched sounds rang in his ears. Before he could say anything else, a strong hand scooped him up from underneath his arm. “Yep and Neil is late for Exy practice so he’s gotta go. Sorry again.” Matt’s voice stirred Neil out of the shock of falling down a flight of stairs and he heard him chuckle as he dragged him off to the car.

The second time it happened, the team was seated in a booth at Sweetie’s during another of their rare outings together. Neil was sat on the edge, across from Andrew and next to Allison who was quietly tapping away on her phone. A waitress had just taken their order before another one showed up to drop off waters for the lot. “Hey sugar what happened to your head there?” Her voice dripped with a thick southern accent and it made Neil cringe as his hand reached up to brush over the cut on his forehead from his fall the week before. “I fell.” He replied simply. “Aw, little clumsy are we now. You ought to be more careful, don’t wanna ruin that pretty face of yours.” Neil felt Allison shaking in silent laughter next to him and he could feel Andrew’s stare. “What? Thanks, I guess.” Neil didn’t get it. The waitress winked and flounced away, and Neil turned his confused gaze to his teammates who began to cough and return to nonexistent conversations in an attempt to conceal their laughter. By the time the ice cream was delivered, a single napkin had been slid in front of Neil with a name and a phone number. Neil didn’t even get a chance to notice it before Andrew snatched it up and the whole team was dying from laughter, only stopping after the look Andrew shot them threatened to ruin their night of team bonding.

It happened again once they reached the club, Neil went with Andrew to fetch drinks from Roland as usual and Roland returned with a tray in one hand and a glass in the other. “This is for you,” Roland said as he handed over the impossibly full tray over to Andrew, “and this,” as he held the glass out to Neil, “is for you.” Neil stared at the glass in Roland’s outstretched hand without any intention of taking it. “I don’t drink.” Roland laughed, “Oh I know, it’s not from me, that gentleman over there threatened to jump my bar if I didn’t send this over.” Roland set the glass down and walked away before Neil had a chance to reply, and he guided his stare to where Roland had pointed to see a man, presumably in his mid to late thirties, smiling at Neil. Andrew snorted and grabbed Neil’s arm with his free hand, guiding him back to the table and leaving Roland’s drink at the bar. “What took so long! I was beginning to think I was gonna die waiting at this nasty table” Nicky exclaimed, stealing the tray from Andrew and distributing drinks to the others. “Some dude was holding us up, well more specifically towards Neil,” Andrew replied, bored. Dan coughed in an unsuccessful attempt to cover a laugh and Neil looked at Andrew blankly. By the time the group had all been dragged into the center of the dance floor, everyone except for Neil Andrew and Renee was drunk. An overly giddy Nicky danced his way over to Neil and Andrew and yelled “Hey! Neil! Some old dude’s been cruisin’ you for the last 5 minutes! Want me to get him off your back?” Neil looked around to spot the man from the bar a few feet away from where Dan and Matt were dancing, once again he smiled at Neil. “ Um, no I’m alright Andrew’s here.” Nicky laughed, “Ok, but when the cops come, I’m running.” Neil turned back around to see Andrew, standing with his arms crossed while Renee and Allison danced around him. “Hey, what’s a nice boy like yourself doing without a date on the dance floor.” Neil turned to look at the man as his hand settled on Neil’s shoulder. Andrew was by his side at the next second, “I’d watch what I do next if I were you,” his voice was tense. The man laughed and squeezed Neil’s shoulder, “Ah you’re not alone. Don’t worry, your boyfriend can dance with us too if he wants to, the more the merrier.” Neil didn’t even know that Andrew had moved until the man was pinned face down on the floor with Andrew’s knee in his back and arms around his neck. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Matt and Renee handing money to a smug Allison.

Neil began to grow more confused as the weeks passed by. The people he met treated him strangely and their interactions always caused whichever one of his friends who were with him to stifle laughs that didn’t go unnoticed by Neil. Their second game of the fall season the Foxes were to face the USC Trojans. Kevin was in an unsurprisingly good mood when they set out to warm up and hour before first serve and his excitement showed when he spotted Trojan captain Jeremy Knox step onto the court. The Foxes and the Trojans greeted each other in good nature (or as good of nature as Aaron and Andrew could manage) before the Foxes set out on their laps around the court.

Halfway through their third lap Neil bent down to tie his shoe, and seconds later he was sprawled out on the court with the Trojans backliner groaning in pain a few feet away. “What happened? Are you okay?” a still startled Neil moved over to the backliner, and saw a bruise the size of an Exy ball beginning to form on his upper arm. Jean ran over with Jeremy close at his heels “Idiot took a hit from a stray ball for you. It would have hit you in the head since you are,” he paused when Jeremy sent him a look as hostile as Jeremy Knox could be, “vertically challenged.” Jeremy still slapped him on the backside of his head, but a small smile could be seen on Jean’s face. “Why would you do that, what if you got seriously hurt?” Neil interrogated the Trojan, who had now sat up and was holding his arm. “That face, can’t let that get too beat up.” He coughed a nervous cough and quickly followed, “and we can’t have you injured and unable to play before the game even starts. I’ve been dreaming about this game for weeks, the day when I finally get to go against Neil Josten on the court.” He placed his hand lightly on Neil’s knee, and Neil stared at him dumbly.

He heard the other Foxes in the distance as they sniggered and laughed. “Wh-” he was cut off by Kevin who walked over to him and rolled his eyes at Neil. He started speaking in rapid French, “If you say ‘what’ one more time I will personally see that you do not play this game. How can one person be so dumb, it’s been months of these ridiculous encounters and you still can not take a hint. People like to flirt with you Neil, and you look at them as if they’re growing a second head. We have so many bets placed on you, and I lost money to Allison a few weeks ago because Andrew lost his shit when that geriatric creep got too close to you. Open your eyes Neil” Kevin paused and then continued in English. “The next time I see you and your stupidity again you will be running drills until your arms fall off.” and with that, he walked away. The backliner looked sheepishly at Neil, then slightly in fear as Andrew walked up to take his place at Neil’s side. “Watch yourself,” he growled, as he guided Neil away from the crowd of players that had formed around them. “Why didn’t you say anything?” Neil asked Andrew as they made their way towards the locker room. Andrew sighed and replied without looking at Neil, “I’m not gonna be your fucking knight in shining armor or protect you like you’re my bitch every time some waste of oxygen talks to you. I simply don’t like when people touch what’s mine.” Neil grinned, and wrapped his arm around Andrew’s shoulder to kiss the top of his head, causing Andrew to glare at him but not pull away.

#andreil #neil josten #andrew minyard #aftg #all for the game #the foxhole court #tfc #the raven king #trk #the kings men #tkm #aftg fanfic #andreil fanfic #tfc fanfic

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gyrlversion · 5 years

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Jacob Rees-Mogg: Boris ‘could unite the Conservative party and win

The chairman of Tory Eurosceptic bloc the European Research Group has thrown his weight behind fellow Old Etonian Boris Johnson, saying the former Foreign Secretary could ‘unite the party and win an election’.

Jacob Rees-Mogg this morning denied his group should shoulder any blame for the current political impasse, saying the Prime Minister’s deal didn’t have unanimous Tory backing because it broke manifesto pledges.

His comments came after it emerged the Prime Minister has offered a so-called ‘Boris lock’ to Mr Corbyn, promising to enshrine any deal they reach in legislation so a future Tory leader cannot tear it up.

But the shadow business secretary Rebecca Long-Bailey indicated this morning that if no deal is reached between Mr Corbyn and Mrs May, Labour could be prepared to revoke Article 50, cancelling Brexit, if the UK was heading towards a no-deal Brexit on Friday.

Jacob Rees-Mogg told Sophie Ridge on Sky today: ‘I think very highly of Boric Johnson, who managed to win in London, twice, in a Labour area, has a great connection with voters, is a clear Eurosceptic, but otherwise is very much in the middle of the Conservative Party.

Theresa May pictured outside church today. She has said she will step down from the Party leadership shortly

‘He’s not particularly a factional character beyond the European issue and therefore I think could unite the party and win an election.’

It comes as potential leaders jockey for position, with some in the party calling for a ‘Bamber’ ticket with Boris Johnson in the leadership role and Remainer Amber Rudd in a senior position like Chancellor of the Exchequer.

One Tory MP said last night that they would ‘crawl across broken glass’ to vote for the ‘unity’ ticket, adding: ‘Amber would take half the party with her, while Boris is the man you need to beat Corbyn at a General Election.’

Mr Rees-Mogg said: ‘I’ve always thought highly of Amber Rudd, she’s a longstanding friend of my sister’s.’

He went on: ‘Believe it or not there will come a time when there are other things to talk about and we’ll need all the talents in the Tory party, not just those of Brexiteers.’

Mr Rees-Mogg denied blame for Britain’s remaining in the EU should lie with his grouping, saying ‘blame for this muddle rests squarely on the Prime Minister’s shoulders’.

Asked whether Theresa May had to work with Jeremy Corbyn because she cannot rely on Conservatives to back her deal – that they had ‘forced her hand’ – he said: ‘I think that’s an odd way of looking at it.

‘The reason the Prime Minister hasn’t been able to get all Conservative MPs to back her deal is that she failed to deliver on the promises she made in the Conservative Party manifesto, in the Lancaster House speech and in the Mansion House speech.

‘She came back with a deal which potentially led to a division between Great Britain and Northern Ireland. So the reason she’s in difficulties is her own creation, it’s not forced upon her.

Asked about a ‘dream ticket’ of Johnson and Rudd, Jacob Rees-Mogg said there would come a time when the party would need to draw on all its talents

Jacon Rees-Mogg told Sophie Ridge Boris Johnson could unite the Conservative Party

Liberal Democrats offer to back deal if public gets final say

The Liberal Democrats have urged Theresa May to bring her Brexit deal back to the Commons with an amendment saying it should be subject to another referendum.

Leader Sir Vince Cable said agreeing to a confirmatory referendum on the deal could secure the Commons majority Mrs May needs for her Withdrawal Agreement.

In a letter to the Prime Minister, he said that as talks with Labour appear to have stalled, a referendum presents an ‘alternative way forward’.

He said: ‘As long as such a confirmatory referendum can include an option to remain, my Liberal Democrat colleagues and I will support it and we know we would be joined by a great many others across the House.

‘Providing Jeremy Corbyn sticks to his party policy, you could achieve a majority akin to that which was obtained for triggering Article 50.’

He went on: ‘Rather than blaming recalcitrant MPs and Conservatives, if the Prime Minister had done what she said in the first place, and had stuck to the law as set out in two Acts, we would have left the European Union by now.’

He insisted Parliament had authorised a no-deal Brexit, saying: ‘Parliament has passed motions objecting to a no deal Brexit, but it passed two laws which provided for us to leave on March 29, now delayed. And law trumps motions’.

He added: ‘She has made active choices to stop us leaving and she deserves to be held to account for that.

‘If she had done what she said in the first place and stuck to the law as set out in two Acts we would have left the EU by now.’

He reiterated his call for Britain to be ‘very difficult’ if we remain in the EU in the medium term under a flextension arrangement, suggesting the UK could veto the EU budget.

‘Each annual budget is set by majority voting, but the seven-year budgetary framework requires unanimity and we could veto that,’ he said.

Saying the EU had ‘not acted with sincere co-operation’, the ERG Chairman said, adding: ‘what is sauce for the goose or sauce for the gander.’

Shadow Business Secretary Rebecca Long-Bailey being interviewed by Andrew Marr

His statement came amid mounting speculation that Mrs May could be preparing to offer the Opposition a customs union to get Labour backing for an amended deal.

According to senior sources, Tory negotiators have told Labour that the Government would accept UK membership of a customs union – a ‘red line’ for Brexiteers – but on condition that they ‘call it something else’ to avoid inflaming anger among Eurosceptic Conservatives.

It also emerged the PM has offered Jeremy Corbyn a ‘lock’ mechanism, which would prevent any future pro-Brexit Prime Minister such as Boris Johnson from unravelling the deal by having it written directly into legislation.

Under the new plan, the prime minister would offer to rewrite the government’s withdrawal bill to enshrine a customs arrangement in law – so any deal reached with May could not be ripped up by her successor.

SNP warns Labour it will ‘pay the price’ in Scotland if it allows a hard Brexit

The SNP’s Westminster leader has warned Labour that they will pay a price at the ballot box in Scotland if a deal with the Tories increases the risk of a hard Brexit.

Ian Blackford MP warned that if someone like Boris Johnson were to become prime minister, the risk of a hard Brexit would be ‘very real’.

He told BBC Sunday Politics Scotland: ‘I would say to colleagues in the Labour Party be very careful because if you do allow this deal to get through, and we know that Theresa May is going to go, you could end up with someone like Boris Johnson as prime minister and quite frankly he can come along with any legislation that he chooses to do so.

‘There are no guarantees through this process, and the risk of having a hard Brexit, having Scotland being outwith not just the single market and the customs union, would be very real, and I would say to Labour don’t do this, be very careful with what you are doing or quite simply you will pay a price at the ballot box in Scotland.’

This morning Rebecca Long-Bailey MP told Andrew Marr Labour had discussed how any changes to the Brexit agreement ‘could be entrenched’.

She said a customs union was ‘defined in international law’ adding: ‘What we have on the table isn’t a customs union, it certainly doesn’t meet the criteria that many business organisations such as the CBI have been asking for,’ she said.

On the prospect of a second referendum, Ms Long-Bailey said: ‘We have asked the Government whether they would consider complying with our policy position and as yet we haven’t seen anything to suggest that they will.’

She indicated Labour could be prepared to revoke Article 50, cancelling Brexit, if the UK was heading towards a no-deal Brexit on Friday.

‘We have promised our party members and our constituents that we will do all we can to avoid a no-deal situation and it’s something that we would consider very, very strongly,’ she said.

In a sign of the softening position on the Tory front bench, arch-Brexiteer Andrea Leadsom, Leader of the House of Commons today refused to rule out a customs union deal with the EU arising from the current cross-party talks, but insisted it would be ‘appalling’ even to consider a second referendum.

Andrea Leadsom told Andrew Marr this morning that it would ‘depend’ what kind of customs union Jeremy Corbyn demanded

Andrea Leadsom Andrew Marr it would ‘depend’ what kind of customs union Jeremy Corbyn demanded should be in a redesigned political declaration about the UK’s future relationship with the EU, in his talks with Theresa May.

She said the Prime Minister’s own deal, which Ms Leadsom has repeatedly backed, included ‘a customs agreement’, adding: ‘There are various different type of arrangements… whatever we deliver it has to be Brexit.

‘The Prime Minister’s proposal is an excellent proposal and it has a customs arrangement within it to ensure completely tariff-free and non-tariff-barrier free customs arrangements for agri-food and industrialized goods. so that is a type of customs arrangements.

‘So we can’t be purist about it, we’re now at the point of Brexit slipping away altogether, we have to face what’s in front of us.’

With just four days to go until an emergency Brussels summit on whether to further delay Britain’s exit:

Mrs May warned that Brexit would ‘slip through our fingers’ if she did not cut a deal with Mr Corbyn;

Philip Hammond signalled the Government was ready to climbdown by declaring there were ‘no red lines’ for a Labour deal;

Former Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab told The Mail on Sunday that Mrs May’s negotiations with Jeremy Corbyn risked ‘handing the keys to Downing Street’ to an avowed Marxist and destroying Brexit;

Tory associations warned they would go on strike in May’s council elections if the PM cuts a deal with Labour and clings to office, as a Tory Minister warned fighting the EU elections would be a ‘suicide note’ for the party;

Tory MPs swung behind the ‘unity’ leadership ticket of pro-Brexit Boris Johnson and pro-Remain Amber Rudd, which they have codenamed ‘Bamber’;

Allies of Home Secretary Sajid Javid produced polling data to claim he is in a better position than Mr Johnson to win a General Election;

International Trade Secretary Liam Fox was accused of making a undiplomatic remark about French President Macron’s marriage after last week’s Cabinet meeting.

And in a boost for the cross-party talks, a snap poll by Labour found 42% of voters backed the parties co-operating, with 27% opposed. Labour, Tory, remain and leave voters all backed the talks by significant margins.

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gyrlversion · 5 years

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Labour turmoil as 45 MPs defy whip and block second referendum plan

Labour has been left bitterly divided over a second referendum after a major rebellion by 45 of its MPs killed off a plan that could have see it take place.

Some 27 politicians from mainly northern Leave-backing areas refused to follow orders to back a motion by Dame Margaret Beckett calling for any Brexit deal to be put to a ‘confirmatory’ referendum.

The motion was defeated by 27 votes, meaning their support would have seen it pass.

Shadow housing minister Melanie Onn was among those who refused to back the plan, which lost by 295 votes to 268.

A further 18 Labour MPs abstained, including shadow cabinet ministers Jon Trickett, Ian Lavery and Andrew Gwynne, bringing the total number of rebels to 45.

The backbench plot to snatch control of Brexit hit a wall last night as none of the alternatives to Theresa May’s deal secured a majority – but MPs still showed Britain they favour a softer Brexit or a second referendum – and will never deliver No Deal.

Party MPs from the north are worried about a voter backlash in Brexit-backing seats if they support a new public vote and it succeeded in preventing or softening Brexit.

Grimsby MP Ms Onn tweeted today: ‘I’m against 2nd Ref becoz I think 1st ref & all that’s flowed from it has been divisive, don’t want 2 put the country through it all over again.

‘2nd Ref won’t resolve Parliamentary party differences & no guarantee change result. 2 reffers shld admit they want 2 revoke Article 50.’

Grimsby MP Melanie Onn quite as a shadow housing minister to vote against a second referendum last night. The motion was defeated by 27 votes – exactly the number of Labour MPs who voted against it

Ms Onn defended her voting decision in a tweet to her followers today, suggesting that a new referendum would not do any good

Labour Party chairman Ian Lavery (right) was among those who abstained in last night’s vote on a second referendum, without sanction from Jeremy Corbyn (pictured last night)

Labour former foreign secretary Dame Margaret said MPs now needed to be prepared to compromise.

‘They are going to have to look over the abyss,’ she told the BBC’s Today programme.

‘For some of them, they were so wedded to particular proposals, and they so passionately believed that those were right, that they didn’t want anything get in the way.’

She added: ‘The reason there is all this fuss about how terrible it was is because the people who want no-deal want it to look as if everything has failed so we have to go their way.’

Last night, in an unprecedented move, politicians seized control of the Commons timetable from Theresa May to hold so-called indicative votes.

The poll showed Parliament is close to agreeing on a soft Brexit with a plan for the UK remaining in a customs union with the EU defeated by 272 votes to 264, while a second referendum was rejected by 295 votes to 268.

MPs were handed green ballot papers on which they voted Yes or No to eight options, ranging from No Deal to cancelling Brexit altogether. However, the votes descended into shambles as MPs rejected each and every one of the proposals – although its architect Sir Oliver Letwin always warned there wouldn’t be a winner first time.

Ten Tories – including ministers Sir Alan Duncan, Mark Field and Stephen Hammond – supported an SNP plan to give MPs the chance to revoke Article 50 if a deal has not been agreed two days before Brexit. Some 60 Tory MPs backed the option of remaining in the single market.

These are the results of last night’s indicative votes on Brexit, in order of preference. It shows that while MPs can’t find a consensus they lean heavily towards a softer Brexit or second referendum

This graphic shows how ministers voted on the idea of No Deal. The Cabinet abstained, but junior ministers were largely split between those who back No Deal or oppose it. Overall MPs showed it was unlikely they would ever agree to it

Tory MP Oliver Letwin (pictured in the Commons today) began today’s proceedings after his amendment on Monday night tore up the usual Commons agenda to allow last night’s votes

The results of Wednesday’s votes, in order of preference, were:

Confirmatory public vote (second referendum) – defeated by 295 voted to 268, majority 27.

Customs union – defeated by 272 votes to 264, majority eight.

Labour’s alternative plan – defeated by 307 votes to 237, majority 70.

Revocation to avoid no-deal – defeated by 293 votes to 184, majority 109.

Common market 2.0: defeated by 283 votes to 188, majority 95.

No Deal: defeated by 400 votes to 160, majority 240.

Contingent preferential arrangements – defeated by 422 votes to 139, majority 283.

Efta and EEA: defeated by 377 votes to 65, majority 312.

Shadow housing minister Melanie Onn resigned after Jeremy Corbyn ordered his MPs to back a raft of soft Brexit plans, as well as a second referendum.

Some 27 Labour MPs defied the whip to reject a so-called ‘confirmatory vote’ on any Brexit deal. The party had instructed them to support the plan just hours after one of its senior frontbenchers publicly warned that it would be a mistake.

Sir Oliver Letwin, the architect of the Commons move, today insisted the indicative votes were not intended to give a precise answer right away – and will hold another round of votes on Monday.

MPs are due to hold a second round of votes – unless Mrs May can get her deal through first – after none of the eight options debated on Wednesday was able to command a majority. It could be that the eight options are cut down to the most popular.

Sir Oliver told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme: ‘At some point or other we either have to get her deal across the line or accept that we have to find some alternative if we want to avoid no deal on the 12th, which I think at the moment is the most likely thing to happen.

‘At the moment we are heading for a situation where, under the law, we leave without a deal on the 12th, which many of us think is not a good solution, and the question is ‘Is Parliament on Monday willing to come to any view in the majority about that way forward that doesn’t involve that result?”

MPs will take control of the Commons order paper again on Monday, so they can narrow down the options if Mrs May’s deal has not been agreed by then – or pass legislation to try and impose their choice on her. Speaking in the Commons after the results, Sir Oliver said: ‘It is of course a great disappointment that the House has not chosen to find a majority for any proposition.

‘However, those of us who put this proposal forward as a way of proceeding predicted that we would not even reach a majority and for that very reason put forward a … motion designed to reconsider these matters on Monday.’

Theresa May (pictured returning to Parliament) sensationally promised to quit Downing Street in return for Tory Brexiteer rebels passing her deal as she admitted her time as Prime Minister was almost over

What PM needs to edge to victory… by just 2 votes. There are 235 Tory loyalists, 10 switchers, 30 who with back the deal if May quits, 10 DUP supporters and 24 Labour

The Prime Minister allowed her MPs to vote however they wanted on the choices after she was warned around ten junior ministers would quit if they were whipped against backing a soft Brexit.

The eight Brexit options that MPs couldn’t back:

Revoke Article 50 – 273 to 184 AGAINST

Put forward by SNP’s Joanna Cherry and backed by 33 MPs including Conservative former attorney general Dominic Grieve, Liberal Democrat leader Sir Vince Cable, Labour’s Ben Bradshaw and all 11 members of The Independent Group.

It demands that if no deal has been agreed on the day before Brexit that MPs will get the chance to cancel the UK’s notice to Brussels it would leave the EU.

Britain is allowed to unilaterally cancel Article 50 and stay a member on its current terms, according to a ruling of the European Court. It would bring an end to the existing negotiations – but would not legally rule them being restarted.

Second referendum – 295 to 268 AGAINST

Tabled by Labour ex-foreign secretary Margaret Beckett to build on proposals from Labour MPs Peter Kyle and Phil Wilson.

It states that MPs will not sanction leaving the EU unless it has been put to the electorate for a ‘confirmatory vote’.

A significant evolution of the plan is it would put any deal agreed by the Government to a public vote and not just Mrs May’s plan.

Customs union – 272 to 264 AGAINST

Tabled by veteran Conservative Europhile Ken Clarke, backed by Labour’s Yvette Cooper, Helen Goodman and chair of the Commons Exiting the EU Committee Hilary Benn and Tory former ministers Sir Oliver Letwin and Sarah Newton.

It demands that ministers negotiate a new ‘permanent and comprehensive UK-wide customs union with the EU’ which would prevent the country being able to strike its own trade deals but make it easier for goods to move between the UK and Europe.

Labour’s plan – 307 to 237 AGAINST

Proposed by Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn

It includes a comprehensive customs union but with a UK say on future trade deals and close alignment with the single market.

The plan also demands matching new EU rights and protections; participation in EU agencies and funding programmes; and agreement on future security arrangements, including access to the European Arrest Warrant.

No deal – 400 to 160 AGAINST

Proposed by Eurosceptic Tory MP John Baron.

Tabled a motion demanding ‘the UK will leave the EU on 12 April 2019’ without a deal. However, a No Deal Brexit has already been rejected twice by MPs.

It would instruct the Government to abandon efforts to secure its deal and inform the EU it did not want a long extension to Article 50 either, in line with last week’s EU Council. Both sides would then have a fortnight to make final preparations.

Common Market 2.0 283 to 188 AGAINST

Tabled by Conservatives Nick Boles, Robert Halfon and Andrew Percy and Labour’s Stephen Kinnock, Lucy Powell and Diana Johnson.

The motion proposes UK membership of the European Free Trade Association and European Economic Area.

It allows continued participation in the single market and a ‘comprehensive customs arrangement’ with the EU after Brexit. It would be very similar to current membership.

The idea is this would remain in place until the agreement of a wider trade deal which guarantees frictionless movement of goods and an open border in Ireland.

Single Market – 377 to 65 AGAINST

Tory former minister George Eustice – who quit as agriculture minister this month to fight for Brexit – proposes remaining within the EEA and rejoining EFTA, but remaining outside a customs union with the EU.

The motion was also signed by Conservative MPs including former minister Nicky Morgan and head of the Brexit Delivery Group Simon Hart.

The idea would keep the UK in the European Economic Area (EEA), but unlike the Common Market 2.0 plan would not involve a customs arrangement. It is similar to Norway’s deal.

Standstill with the EU – 422 to 139 AGAINST

Backed by senior Brexiteers in the ERG including Steve Baker and Priti Patel, this would tell the Government to seek a tariff-free trading arrangement with the EU>

It would be based on a ‘standstill’ agreement saying all regulations in the UK would continue to match EU ones for up to two years.

She and the Cabinet abstained on the indicative votes, helping her to mask the wide gaping divisions among her senior ministers on the way forward.

Commons Speaker John Bercow selected eight out of the 16 Brexit options tabled by MPs for a vote, turning down proposals to demand a unilateral right to leave the Northern Irish ‘backstop ‘ or to require automatic revocation of Article 50 if No Deal is reached. He also rejected the so-called Malthouse Compromise Plan A – drawn up by backbenchers from Leave and Remain wings of the Tory Party – which would have implemented Mrs May’s deal with the backstop replaced by ‘alternative arrangements’.

Ahead of the votes, Mrs May warned she would not regard the results as binding. But former Tory chancellor Ken Clarke yesterday told BBC Radio 5 Live the Prime Minister ‘would obviously have to be removed’ if she ignored a consensus emerging from the indicative votes process.

Labour ordered its MPs to back a motion, tabled by former foreign secretary Dame Margaret Beckett, requiring any Brexit deal passed during this Parliament to be confirmed in a public referendum before ratification. The party also whipped its MPs to back its own alternative Brexit plan – but four Labour backbenchers voted against it. Three others – including party chairman Ian Lavery – voted for a ‘managed’ No Deal. Mr Corbyn had also encouraged his MPs to back the so-called Common Market 2.0 plan tabled by Mr Clarke – which would keep the country in the single market as well as a customs arrangement – but did not whip them to do so.

At Prime Minister’s Questions, Mrs May criticised the Labour leader over his support for a customs union and a second referendum. She said: ‘Whatever happened to straight-talking honest politics?’ In a tweet, the Department for Exiting the European Union warned that the Common Market 2.0 plan ‘would not respect the referendum result’.

‘[It] would not end free movement of people, would not let us set our own trade policy, would not stop us sending money to the EU, [and] would make us a rule taker,’ the message added.

A number of Tory MPs refused to take part in the votes. Aldershot MP Leo Docherty said none of the options presented a ‘coherent path towards Brexit’. He tweeted: ‘This is an exercise in Parliamentary navel-gazing and I will be abstaining.’ Commons Leader Andrea Leadsom earlier warned that MPs had turned the normal ‘precedent on its head’ by taking control of the order paper, which sets out the parliamentary timetable for the day. She said: ‘Those who are not in government are deciding the business, and there are inevitable ramifications to that.’

But former Tory chief whip Andrew Mitchell said Sir Oliver had played ‘an absolute blinder’ by making clear to Brexiteers the consequences of continuing to oppose the PM’s deal. He said: ‘I think Sir Oliver Letwin has laid out for all my friends and colleagues in the ERG the instruments of torture, of what awaits them if they do not support Mrs May’s deal the next time it comes to a vote.’

Allies of PM said she had reluctantly made the decision to quit over the past fortnight, following conversations with close political friends and her husband Philip.

Mr May stood by her side as she made a ‘moving’ speech to tearful staff in No 10 after making her announcement to MPs last night. Allies said the decision reflected her determination to push through a plan she believes is ‘firmly in the national interest’.

One said: ‘She had other options but she has put her country first. It is typically selfless’ – but it is unclear if it can save her deal.

The DUP’s support is seen as critical to unlocking the backing of dozens of Eurosceptic MPs.

Downing Street was last night locked in frantic talks with the party in the hope of persuading its ten MPs to support the deal.

‘They are tough negotiators,’ one source said. ‘It’s not over yet.’

But one Cabinet minister said: ‘If they don’t move, then we don’t have the votes.’

MPs last night rejected every Brexit option in a series of ‘indicative votes’, with a customs union, second referendum, Norway-style option and No Deal all failing to get a majority.

That, and the PM’s ‘Back me, then sack me’ plea, sets the scene for a third attempt to pass her Brexit plan tomorrow – the day Britain was due to leave the EU.

Mrs May becomes the fourth consecutive Tory prime minister to have their career wrecked by the issue of Europe.

Pressure on her to quit had been building in recent weeks, with Eurosceptic MPs unhappy with her deal, warning that they wanted a new leader to take forward the next stage of Brexit negotiations.

A senior Tory said party whips believed up to 30 Eurosceptic MPs would back Mrs May’s deal only if she agreed to go.

Addressing the 1922 Committee of Tory MPs last night, an emotional Mrs May acknowledged that Brexit turmoil had been ‘a testing time for our country and our party’. She called on MPs to do their ‘historic duty’ and back her plan.

But she acknowledged concerns about her own leadership, saying: ‘I have heard very clearly the mood of the parliamentary party.

‘I know there is a desire for a new approach – and new leadership – in the second phase of the Brexit negotiations – and I won’t stand in the way of that.’

Her dramatic move fired the starting gun on what promises to be a bruising Tory leadership contest this summer that will choose the next prime minister.

Tory sources said that if Mrs May’s plan passes, a leadership contest will start shortly after May 22, when the UK finally leaves the EU. However, No 10 refused to say whether she would still depart on the same timetable if her plan is blocked or defeated.

One source said it would be ‘a different scenario’, adding: ‘It’s hard to see how we could have time for a leadership contest in quite the same way if we’re still in the middle of trying to take us out.’

Who could replace Theresa May?

Here are the top runners and riders to replace the Prime Minister, their odds with Ladbrokes and how they voted in the 2016 referendum:

Michael Gove 4/1

Michael Gove’s odds have shortened in recent days

Leading Vote Leave figure in 2016 who now backs PM’s Brexit deal

Former journalist, 51, who stood for leadership in 2016

Was sacked as education minister by Theresa May

Later returned as Environment Minister

A Brexiteer with a machiavellian reputation after the 2016 leadership campaign in which he first supported Boris Johnson for the leadership and then stood against him, to their mutual disadvantage.

The former education secretary – sacked by Mrs May – was rehabilitated to become a right-on environment secretary – complete with reusable coffee cups and a strong line on food standards after Brexit.

Despite being a former lead figure in the Vote Leave campaign alongside Mr Johnson the former journalist and MP for Surrey Heath has swung behind Mrs May’s Brexit deal.

At the weekend he denied being involved in a coup seeking to make him a caretaker PM.

Seen as one of the Cabinet’s strongest political thinkers and having stood once it is unthinkable that he would not stand again.

Boris Johnson 4/1

Boris Johnson is very popular with the Tory grassroots

Former foreign secretary and mayor of London

Voted leave and has become an increasingly hardline Brexiteer

As likely to make headlines over his private life

Has recently lost a lot of weight and smartened up his appearance

The former foreign secretary who quit last July and has been tacitly campaigning for the leadership ever since returning to the backbenches with a regular stream of attacks on Mrs may and her Brexit strategy.

Never far from the limelight it is his private life that has seen him most in the news recently after splitting from his wife Marina and embarking on a relationship with a former Conservative communications staffer 20 years his junior.

A hawkish Brexiteer hugely popular with the party faithful, in recently weeks he has further boosted his frontrunner credentials with what might be deemed a ‘prime ministerial’ makeover.

He has lost weight and taming his unruly mop of blonde hair into something approaching the haircut of a serious senior statesman.

Jeremy Hunt 8/1

Jeremy Hunt backed Remain in 2016 but has undergone a conversion to the Brexit cause

The Foreign Secretary voted Remain

But has become an increasingly vocal Brexiteer

Backs May’s deal

Has approached ministers about running as a unity candidate

The Foreign Secretary who has undergone a Damascene conversion to the Brexit cause in with a series of hardline warnings to the EU.

The 52-year-old South West Surrey MP is the most senior Cabinet minister in contention.

He has reportedly been selling himself to colleagues as a unity candidate who can bring together the fractious Tory factions into something approaching a cohesive party.

A long-serving health secretary, he replaced Mr Johnson as the UK’s top diplomat and has won some plaudits over issues like the imprisonment of British mother Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe in Iran.

But critics point to tub-thumpingly comparing the EU to the USSR at the party conference last year – which was very badly received in Brussels – and a gaffe in which he referred to his Chinese wife as ‘Japanese’ as a reception in China.

Dominic Raab 10/1

The former Brexit Secretary is now a Theresa May critic

Shortlived Brexit secretary last year, replacing David Davis in the hot seat

But walked in November over terms agreed by PM

Voted for Brexit in 2016

Mr Raab, 45, is another Vote Leave member who became Brexit secretary after David Davis quit alongside Mr Johnson last July over the Chequers plan.

But he lasted just a matter of months before he too jumped ship, saying he could not accept the terms of the deal done by the Prime Minister.

Like Mr Johnson and Mr Davis he has become an increasingly hardline Brexiteer, sharing a platform with the DUP’s Arlene Foster and suggesting we should not be afraid of a no-deal Brexit.

The Esher and Walton MP’s decision to quit in November, boosted his popularity with party members but he lacks the wider popular appeal of Mr Johnson.

And like Mr Johnson he might benefit from having quit the Cabinet at an earlier stage and dissociating himself with the dying days of the May administration.

Sajid Javid 12/1

Sajid Javid has kept a relatively low profile throughout the Brexit chaos

The most senior cabinet contender

Voted Remain but wants to see Brexit delivered

Faced criticism as Home Secretary

But has taken a hard line on Shamima Begum case

The Home Secretary, a Remainer who wants to see Brexit delivered, was the leading candidate from inside the Cabinet to replace Mrs May.

After replacing Amber Rudd last year he consciously put clear ground between himself and the Prime Minister on issues like caps on skilled migrants after Brexit.

But his credentials have taken a hit in recent weeks. He finds himself facing ongoing criticism of his handling of the knife crime crisis affecting UK cities, which sparked a cabinet row over funding for police.

He also lost face over his handling of the influx of migrants crossing the English Channel in January, being seen to move slowly in realising the scale of the problem.

But more recently the 49-year-old Bromsgove MP has made a serious of hardline decision designed to go down well with Tory voters.

Most notably they have included moving to deprive London teenager turned Jihadi bride Shamima Begum, 19, of her British citizenship.

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