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Everyone knew Neil couldn’t be trusted with the press, this was common knowledge. He was always ushered away from any paparazzi, he never handled post or pre-game interviews. However, with his new transfer to the Seattle Hawks after graduation, of course, he was invited to do the Kathy Ferdinand show. It was to be expected, but his manager was throwing a fit as they sat in the dressing room ahead of his call time.
“If you fuck this up, I’m killing you,” Harriet spoke with a tense tone. She was younger than most managers, but Neil trusted her with his career since he couldn’t be bothered to work out most of it himself. Not to mention they got along great. “I will kill you, resurrect you, and then kill you again. It’s not too late for the Hawks to give you back, you know that, right?”
Neil laughed as he checked his reflection in the mirror. His hand drifted up to the scars on his face that were slightly faded due to the foundation the makeup artist had put over it. Still, they couldn’t be completely covered up. Neil didn’t mind, though, he was used to such things. “Yes, I know. I can control myself a little bit, you know.”
“Yes, around the normal press, maybe, but Kathy is a raging bitch or do we not remember what happened last time?” Harriet’s voice was stressed as she stood behind Neil, tapping away on her phone like she always was. Knowing her, she was probably preparing to do damage control.
“Last time was four years and a half years ago, things are different now,” the man said with a shrug as he pulled on his jacket that had been hanging off the back of the chair. It was a black bomber jacket that Neil was fairly sure Andrew had not-so-accidentally shoved into Neil’s bag the last time Neil was leaving Seattle. That was part of the reason Neil signed with the Hawks in the first place -- since it was Andrew’s team. After graduation, they never planned on going to the same team, they just planned to deal with the distance the way they had been for the last year. However, when the Hawks offered Neil the spot, he couldn’t refuse. Andrew had called him an idiot when he told him, but he knew it was endearing.
They still hadn’t come out, but they weren’t exactly hiding it. The foxes from Neil’s freshman year knew since they were all close, but most of the newer foxes Neil played with during his last few years probably still thought Neil and Andrew hated each other. Neil didn’t really mind people not knowing because he knew no matter who knew that Andrew was still going to be his by the end of the day.
There was a knock on the door and Harriet opened it to reveal one of the producers. Looking hurried, the man said, “Mr. Josten, you’re on in five if we could have you side-stage as soon as possible, please.”
Neil nodded and followed the man out of the room while Harriet walked beside him, still working on her phone. Muttering to her, he said, “You know, you really could chill out. I got this.”
“I have never trusted you once when you say you got something,” Harriet scoffed, but there was a playfulness in her voice that Neil knew well. They hadn’t been working together long, but Neil felt like he had known her for years.
“All right, folks, next up we have a familiar face who caused quite a stir last time he was here!” Kathy’s voice began to announce as Neil was finishing being mic’d up. “Joining the line-up for the Seattle Hawks, we have a now-professional Exy player, Neil Josten!”
Neil plastered on a smile as he walked out, waving to the crowd. He shook Kathy’s hand along with a brief kiss on the cheek as he took his spot on the couch. It was strange, being alone this time.
“Hello, hello,” Neil said with a smile. It was almost completely fake since he had a burning hatred for Kathy Fernidand, but he had always been one hell of a liar.
“Neil! Good to have you back!” Kathy exclaimed with a broad, probably also fake, smile.
“Yeah, good to be here!”
“So, you are going to be the Seattle Hawks’ new striker, how are you feeling about your choice of team? It’s to my understanding you were in high demand for the fall season,” Kathy asked, actually being nice. However, he really was just waiting for the other shoe to drop as it always did with Kathy. Last time, it was her bringing Riko Moriyama up on stage, Neil was nervous to see what she had planned this time around.
He kept his voice cool and controlled as he could already feel Harriet’s watchful eyes boring into the side of his skull while he spoke, “I’m feeling great about it, I’ve admired the Hawks for a long time and I’m really excited to be joining their team for the fall season. Not to mention, they’ve beat the Cardinals twice now, so naturally, I was keen on them.”
“Yes, you and your former teammate, Kevin, sure do have quite a friendly competition going now that you guys are both pro, no? Do you still talk to your graduated teammates?”
Neil laughs starkly at this, nodding along with his words, “Yeah, Kevin and I have kept in close touch since graduation, for sure. I do hear from my other teammates occasionally, I’m just glad we don’t have to live together anymore. Rooming with Matt Boyd for a couple of years was… interesting to say the least.”
“Speaking of former Foxes,” Kathy continued, “Andrew Minyard played with you your first four years, how do you feel about playing on the same team as him again? I mean, especially considering your guys’s speculated rivalry, of course.”
Neil bit his lip, deciding how to play this in a way that would piss off Andrew just enough. Finally, with a small chuckle, he decided on, “I respect Andrew as a player, I really do, I’m just not sure he’d ever be able to keep up with me or my playing level.”
That was how the Minyard-Josten rivalry started. Of course, after the interview, Harriet had smacked him upside the head for that comment, but the man could only laugh as his manager pulled up Twitter and saw that it was already trending with thousands of tweets. Neil wouldn’t be Neil if he didn’t like to stir the pot every once in a while. After all, what none of the people tweeting knew was that tomorrow Neil would be boarding a flight to Seattle where he would be staying in a shared apartment with Andrew. He could tell the truth, but it was much more entertaining to watch this play out.
“Josten doesn’t know what he’s talking about, Minyard is a star on his way to court,” Andrew read in a monotone voice as he and Neil sat on the couch watching a documentary that morning, “Ew. Court.”
“Hm, court,” Neil spoke with a gentle joy in his tone, “I personally think this whole thing is hilarious.”
“I think you’re an idiot,” Andrew replied with a small scoff, “Leave it to you to start a rivalry between us. I’m surprised she hasn’t invited me on the show to comment. I’d rather die than speak to her again, though, maybe that’s why.”
“Read me another one,” was all Neil said in response to that as took another bite of the cereal he was holding in his hands. “These are funny.”
A small smile tugged at the edges of Andrew’s lips as he scrolled through his phone with a displeased expression, “Here’s a good one. Patiently awaiting Andrew’s response because this whole thing is fucking hilarious.”
“You haven’t responded to me dissing you yet? I’m hurt,” Neil teased as he pulled out his own phone and opened Twitter. He rarely used it, but if he was going to use it he might as well insult Andrew while doing so. He read aloud as he typed, “Andrew’s been real quiet since I called him out, does this mean I was right?”
“Dick,” Andrew threw a pillow at him which Neil expertly dodged for the sake of saving the cereal. No one wants to try and get milk out of the carpet -- that was mold waiting to happen. The blond typed something out on his phone and moments later Neil had a notification of someone mentioning him on Twitter.
“It’s a shame Neil can’t keep his mouth shut or else he might actually remember how to play, okay wow,” Neil read with a laugh as he kicked his boyfriend gently in the thigh from where he was sitting on the couch. “Asshole.”
Andrew just turned up the volume on the documentary.
“You need to keep this rivalry thing going, it’s getting good press for the team,” Harriet said in lieu of a greeting as she sat next to him. She was one of the few people in his life that knew the truth about him and Andrew. “Does… does the team know?”
He looked over at where everyone was getting ready for warm-ups before practice before looking back at Harriet and shaking his head, “Coach does, but that’s it. They think we hate each other.”
“You two amaze me,” she said with a scoff and a smile, shaking her head, “Anyway, I’ll check in with you after practice, but I was chatting with the team’s press manager so I thought I’d let you know.”
Neil nodded and the practice began as Harriet took her seat and Neil rejoined with his team. Andrew was glaring at him through his goalie helmet and Neil subtly blew him a kiss which caused Andrew to fake gag. Neil just laughed and only a few team members seemed to catch the interaction.
As they dispersed onto the court, he was approached by his teammate, Ella, who nudged him gently on the shoulder, “Dude, what was that?”
“Playful taunting,” Neil answered honestly with a shrug. Obviously, he wasn’t telling the whole truth, but Ella didn’t need to know that. “You ready to play?”
Practice got started easy enough as they ran drills, but eventually they started a scrimmage that Neil had no complaints about. Well, no complaints until his teammate slipped and accidentally shoved him against the plexiglass wall, both his and his teammate’s racquets digging into his gut while getting the wind knocked out of him. As soon as the teammate backed up and went to ask if he was okay, Neil keeled over with a grunt as he let go of his racquet and braced his hands on the court. Immediately, everyone was running over to make sure he was okay, but he felt like he was going to puke from the gut impact.
“I’m fine,” he choked out, looking up to see Andrew looking at him with concern in his eyes. He knew he wanted to reach out, but he was asking a silent question first. Neil nodded, “Yeah, yes.”
Everyone looked confused, but Andrew, who had since taken off his helmet, just reached out and helped pull Neil up. With one hand on his arm, he wrapped that one around his shoulders and the other he gripped Neil’s waist as he helped him walk over to the seats and grab his water bottle for him. He could practically feel his teammates eyes on him, but as he took a sip from the water bottle and tried to regain his composure he didn’t really care.
“Don’t barf on me,” Andrew spoke gruffly, but Neil was able to hear the gentleness behind it. It was Andrew’s way of asking if he was feeling okay, he knew that.
Neil nodded as he continued drinking, “I’m good, I’m good, jus’ need to catch my breath. Thank you, ‘Drew.”
“ Drew?” he heard Ella whisper to a teammate from where they were watching.
“Neil’s fine, y’all get back to practice!” Coach Jackson yelled from her position as she ushered them away, “Play with one goalie for now, they’ll be back in a second. Sheesh. Neil, you good over there?”
“Shit happens, coach,” Neil responded with a small smile as he raised his water in a mock toast and took another sip, “I’m good really, ‘Drew, go back to practice.”
Andrew rolled his eyes but got up anyway as he grabbed his goalie helmet. He seemed to consider something for just a moment before he brought up his empty hand to grab the back of Neil’s head as he pressed a quick kiss to his forehead. It was risky if they didn’t want their teammates to know, but Neil didn’t really care right now. He gave Andrew’s hand a quick squeeze before he watched the man head back to practice.
After he left the locker rooms that afternoon, Ella pulled him aside and asked, “You guys aren’t really rivals, are you?”
Neil just laughed and shook his head.
Two years on the Hawks didn’t change much for Andrew and Neil save for the fact they both tucked chains with rings on them underneath their jersey’s for every game. As far as the public was concerned, they still hated each other and they proved that with their evil glances and glares at each other throughout the game. One notable time was when Neil had made a risky pass and almost twisted his ankle in the process to which Andrew flipped him off for making such a stupid decision. Of course, the press perceived it as him getting mad at Neil for almost losing the pass. It was honestly entertaining to see what they could come up with. However, now it was the end of the season and they could drop the charades soon as they would resign to their quiet life in their Seattle apartment for a couple of months of the off-season. Neil was looking forward to it, but he just had to get through the last half of this game first.
He could feel Andrew’s eyes on the back of his neck before the starting serve of the second half, so Neil took a moment to turn around and flip him off. Partially it was to give the press something to chew on, but mainly it was to see the disapproving look on Andrew’s face.
As the game carried on the Hawks were up by three points as they played Kevin’s team, the Phoenix Cardinals. He had been able to chat with Kevin a little bit before the game, but now it was all business. It wasn’t until they had a minute left on the clock and a tie before Neil started to get stressed out. To make things worse, he had the ball and he had fifty seconds to make the shot. He took off in a sprint as he passed the ball to Ella to get around a bigger player and as soon as he was clear, it was thrown back to him. He had to jump to catch it since her trajectory was slightly off, but it landed in his net and that was all that mattered. In the faded background, he could hear the crowd counting down the last ten seconds of the game to which Neil aimed and fired, hoping for the best. Just before the buzzer sounded, the goal lit up red. Neil breathed a sigh of relief as his team ran over to congratulate him.
He greeted his team with a smile as they all celebrated together. In the commotion, Andrew walked over to Neil taking off his helmet. Call Neil crazy, but he was pretty sure he saw Andrew smile for just a moment. The blond muttered a quick yes or no and Neil couldn’t nod his head fast enough as the other cupped his face and gave him a quick, celebratory kiss.
Yeah, The Minyard-Josten Rivalry didn’t last long after that.