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It was movie night in Fox Tower, aka Matt’s crusade to educate Neil on what he considered “the most important films to humanity”, which included—but were not limited to—Star Wars, The Breakfast Club, The Avengers, The Lord of the Rings, the entire Harry Potter franchise, and The Princess Bride. Matt had a list and everything, and they were slowly working their way down it with each movie night. The Foxes had all gathered in the girls’ room, and Aaron had even brought Katelyn—Andrew resolutely ignored his twin every single movie night without fail.
They were going through Matt’s list of movies for Neil to watch; the team vetoed several selections as he went down the list, simply not in the mood to watch something like Scarface that night.
“How about High School Musical?” Nicky called out.
Allison stared at her nails, and Andrew stared blankly at the wall. Dan was grinning, “How about it, Neil?”
“Oh, I’ve never seen it,” Neil responded, “What’s it about?”
“You’ve never seen High School Musical?” Matt asked Neil incredulously. Nicky shrieked in the background.
Neil shrugged, “I just said that. You seem to forget that I spent the last ten years of my life on the run. It’s not like I could just sit down and watch a movie.”
Matt sighed, “Well, now you’re not, so you’re gonna watch High School Musical.”
“Why?”
Matt groaned, “It’s a modern American classic, Neil. Everyone’s seen High School Musical!”
Neil rolled his eyes, “I doubt everyone has seen it.”
“Neil,” Andrew said quietly, “Even I’ve seen it.”
All of the Foxes’ heads whipped around to stare at the short blond sitting on the couch. Allison grinned and held out her hands. Matt, Dan, Nicky, and Kevin all grudgingly handed over cash. Kevin looked like he had swallowed a lemon, and Renee just smiled serenely.
“Thanks, monster,” Allison laughed, “You just made me 200 bucks. Keep this up, and you’ll make me even richer.”
Andrew merely raised an eyebrow at her while Aaron quietly muttered “Not that you need it.”
Allison made to snap back at him, but Renee gently put her hand on Allison’s forearm, calming her down. In the end, Allison shrugged, not really caring what he thought about her. It mattered more to her that she was right than anything.
Dan cleared her throat, effectively cutting through the tension, “Why don’t we get this started?”
Matt jumped up to put the DVD in the player and turned off the lights. He snuggled up next to Dan, pulling her close to him. Neil and Andrew did their own version, keeping barely a centimeter between their thighs.
“I have a great idea, guys,” Matt began, about two minutes into the movie, “How about every time they say ‘What team?’ we all shout ‘Foxes!’ instead of ‘Wildcats’?”
“I like that,” Dan added, “It would be great for team bonding.”
Renee smiled, and the other Foxes didn’t voice any direct objections. Andrew snorted, and Neil shrugged once more, a little confused by the whole situation still. Still not objections, though.
Dan clapped her hands, “Great! Foxes, we’re all shouting ‘Foxes’ instead of ‘Wildcats’ when they ask ‘What team?’. Anyone who doesn’t has to run extra laps.”
A collective groan echoed through the room, only to be stopped by a “Shut up, and watch the movie!” from Kevin of all people.
“You heard the man,” Dan exclaimed, “Now watch the damn movie!”
—
“WHAT TEAM?”
“FOXES!” Chorused the team, save for Matt’s “WILDCATS!”
Dan smacked Matt upside the back of his head, “Even Andrew said it! You get laps!”
“Dan,” Matt whined, only to be shut up by a glare from her.
Neil found himself getting more and more intrigued by the film as it went along. He was still new to learning all about the different sexual orientations beyond gay and straight, and felt like he might be picking up on some metaphoric vibes. He couldn’t be sure, but there seemed to be coming out type vibe.
“I just felt like a girl” Dan whispered along with the dialogue, breaking Neil out of his movie-induced reverie.
“You even look like one too!” Nicky shouted from her other side, cutting off Matt before he could follow the dialogue with Dan.
Andrew’s fingers twitched slightly. Neil turned to look at the blond sitting next to him instead of paying attention to the film. Neil found him beautiful, illuminated by nothing more than the light of the screen. The corners of Andrew’s mouth were pulled down, making Neil think that he might actually be enjoying the film had he not known better.
“Staring,” he hissed out of the corner of his mouth, “Watch the fucking movie, junkie.”
Neil turned his attention back to the screen, grinning. He loved being right. As he became engrossed in the movie once more, his brow began to furrow. This time, Andrew turned to stare. Neil looked completely baffled by the entire situation, including Troy climbing up a tree to sing to Gabriella about his feelings.
“I am so glad that I only did one year of high school,” Neil sighed, “This shit seems exhausting.”
Everyone, save Andrew, turned around to shush him. Neil look affronted—the team usually put up with some of his chatter during movies. But for some reason, this movie was special. Neil couldn’t tell if it was because of its ridiculous nature, or simply something about teamwork.
By the time the film reached its second to last number, Nicky was singing along between watery sniffles. The rest of the team wasn’t in much better shape, all singing together. Andrew’s toes wiggled along with the music—not that any of the team members could see it. Neil could only tell because of the slight flexing of his thighs. Thighs that had pressed up against his at some point during the movie.
For the next number, Matt and Nicky stood up and began dancing, singing “We’re All in This Together” at the top of their lungs. Dan was howling with laughter, while Kevin wore an expression of mild horror. Aaron was grimacing at their antics from his end of the couch where he was cuddling with Katelyn. Allison was filming them for her Snapchat story, and Renee was resting her head on Allison’s shoulder.
“Yes or no,” Neil whispered in Andrew’s ear while the team’s attention was focused elsewhere.
“Yes,” Andrew gritted out.
Neil grinned once more and got up off the couch, and Andrew was quick to do the same. Andrew started pushing him out the door, nodding at Renee. “This was fun! Bye!” Neil called out over his shoulder, not minding the angry blond manhandling him out of the room.