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“So has she said anything about me?” Kevin asked in French while he was supposed to be trying to get the ball past Andrew’s defense; for once the usually determined striker was less than focused on Exy practice.
Neil sighed then winced when his friend barely dodged Andrew’s return throw. “Yes.”
“And?”
Managing a successful throw of his own, he then noticed Kevin’s clearly pining glance in Allison’s direction, where the dealer was laughing (and pointedly not looking at Kevin – at least not then) while she, Dan, Renee and Coach worked with the rookies. “She called you an arrogant bastard and said it was a shame that your, uhm, that a certain body part didn’t match the size of your ego.” He hated how Allison had made him promise to pass that along under the threat of another ‘makeover’ if he didn’t.
“What?” Kevin squawked in indignation, only to let out a yelp when he was nailed by Andrew’s return volley a moment later. “Damnit, Andrew! Are you trying to cripple me?”
“There’d be no ‘trying’ if I was. If you’re going to stand there and gossip, I’m done for the day,” Andrew insisted, the visor of his mask pushed up to reveal the blank expression on his face. Yet Neil noticed the slight gleam of amusement in his boyfriend’s hazel eyes, which hinted that he wasn’t as bored or bothered as one might assume by his and Kevin’s discussion.
Kevin scowled while he massaged his right shin then scoffed. “I’m gonna go help Coach with the rookies,” he said with an offended air before he stalked away – toward Wymack and Allison.
Neil rubbed the scar on his left cheek while Andrew came to stand beside him and wasn’t surprised to see Nicky headed their way, an eager look on his face. “This is getting ridiculous,” he complained in German as he watched his best friend continue to ignore his second-best friend.
“I’m about to put him out of all our miseries,” Andre stated as what had become a familiar scenario recently played out in front of them, ever since Allison and Kevin’s latest fight.
Nicky caught that as he sidled next to Neil, a warm grin on his face. “Aw, you don’t mean that, do you?” When Andrew gave him a flat look in return, a nervous chuckle slipped free. “Okay, yeah, it’s a bit annoying, him always going on about her and how unreasonable she’s being and what could he have possibly done wrong this time. Blegh. Hets, what can you do, right?” he asked Neil while he nudged him in the ribs.
Neil thought about it for a moment as he nibbled on his bottom lip. “Spay and neuter program?” It was supposed to help with animals… something about keeping them from fighting and stuff….
Nicky gaped at him for some reason while Andrew nodded in agreement. “I’ll take care of Kevin tonight.”
“No!” Nicky shrieked and waved his hands about, which made the rest of the Foxes look at them – well, everyone but Aaron, who pointedly stared off in the other direction. “Something else! Aren’t the two of you working on something with Renee? Something that doesn’t involve removing organs?”
Oh, that. Neil sighed as he nodded while he thought about Renee’s plan. “Yeah, we are.” He glanced at his boyfriend, whose full lips were turned down the slightest bit at the corners, which often happened whenever his ‘fun’ had been snatched away. “How’s that coming along?”
“It is.”
From anyone else, Neil would push for more of an answer, but he trusted Andrew and knew his boyfriend wouldn’t lie to him. If Andrew said that the plan was coming along, then it was, so he smiled in thanks (and ignored Nicky gushing about how the two of them were so ‘cute’), then prevented Andrew from swatting Nicky with his goalie racquet.
It was around then that Coach called an end to practice, which meant that Nicky (rather foolishly) stuck his tongue out at his cousin before he ran for the locker room, laughing like a madman all the while. Neil shook his head at Andrew’s narrow gaze (no murdering of family that day) then knocked their arms together. “I’ll be back later tonight since Allie wants me to run some errands with her.”
Andrew gave a slight wrinkle of his nose. “If I’m left too long with the morons, don’t blame me for what happens.”
“I’ll try not to be too long,” Neil promised. “And will bring back ice cream.”
Judging from Andrew’s content hum, Nicky and Kevin had just been granted a slight reprieve.
Once in the locker room, Neil hurried to shower and change into clean clothes, aware that Allison and Renee were waiting for him. He did his best to ignore Jack’s snide comments and Kevin’s sulking attitude, something he was becoming better at by the day. It also helped that Matt and Nicky ran interference by distracting him while Andrew gave the two (well, more Jack than Kevin) intent stares until they shut up (Jack about how he should be a starting striker in Friday’s game against Blackwell, Kevin when he complained about how Neil wasn’t helping him with the fundraiser).
Neil was grateful to leave the men’s locker room at last, at least until he went out to the parking lot and noticed the smug expression on Allison’s face. “Uhm… I’m not feeling so good,” he lied, well aware that ‘smug’ and ‘Allison’ together usually didn’t bode well for him.
“Get in the car, sunshine, we’re got a lot to do!” Allison ordered while a smiling Renee leaned forward to open the passenger door of the Porsche for him. “No rest for the wicked!”
“That sounds so encouraging,” he sighed as he collapsed into the passenger seat then craned his neck so he could look back at Renee. “You sure you don’t want to sit up here?”
“It’s okay, Allie’s going to drop me off at the event center so I can meet up with Katelyn and Leah to help them with the decorations.” She was dressed in pale grey sweatpants and a hooded Foxes’ t-shirt with her hair pinned back as if she planned to work.
“How’s the place coming along?”
“Really well.” Renee beamed with pride as she tucked back a stray strand tipped with pink dye. “Allie did a wonderful job designing the layout, and the Foxes and Vixens have worked hard to bring it to life. Even Abby and Bee have pitched into help.”
“And Wymack by staying away,” Allison joked as she pulled into the event center’s parking lot.
Even Renee laughed at the remark. “Well, he is paying for our meals, so that helps.” She nodded to Neil when he got out of the car so she didn’t have to climb over him; he noticed that Aaron had tagged along with Katelyn, and that Betsy was there as well.
He also noticed that the Vixen’s head cheerleader appeared very happy to see Renee.
“Huh, is it just me or….” He motioned to Renee, who was talking to Leah as they entered the building, before he put on his seatbelt.
“Aww, my little sunshine is growing up!” Allison laughed when Neil sighed and slumped down in the passenger seat. “It only took you a couple months to pick up on that!” She laughed again as she reached over to tousle his hair.
“You know I’m bad at this stuff,” he grumbled as he knocked her hand aside then combed his fingers through his mussed bangs. “I didn’t know out about you and Kevin until we found you sleeping in the same bed.”
Allison’s smile disappeared at the mention of her… whatever Kevin was, other than a friend and teammate. “Yeah, me and the obtuse idiot.”
“Allie.” Neil turned to face her, unhappy to hear her talk about Kevin like that, even if it was somewhat true.
“It’s just,” Allison flicked her right hand through the air as if she grasped for what to say, “he takes too much for granted! I’m not doing this again, not gonna play games while he figures out what he wants.”
Yes, she’d just told Neil (and Renee, and Dan, and Matt) that a dozen times already, but Allison (and Dan, and Matt, and… well, not really Renee) had listened to him explain things about him and Andrew often enough, so he swallowed any smart remarks he was about to make and merely nodded. “So he either figures things out real quick or he gets dumped and used to being miserable.”
“Yep.” Her expression the serious one she tended to wear while out on court, she didn’t look away from the road as she reached over to bop him on the nose. “That’s my clever little sunshine.”
“Thanks, I think.”
Allison laughed once more, and despite being dragged into yet another insane plan of hers (which always worked out somehow, just like how she almost never lost a bet), Neil smiled upon hearing her sound happy. “Most definitely welcome. Now, has your little monster come through on his end?”
Neil nodded; he realized that Allison didn’t mean it as an insult anymore when she called Andrew his ‘little monster’. “It should make for an interesting party.”
“Please,” Allison sniffed in mock outrage. “Considering all the effort I’ve put into this, it’s going to be a stupendous party.”
As long as things didn’t blow up in their faces; the point of Saturday night was to raise money for the local Exy children’s league which provided an opportunity for underprivileged children to participate in the sport. As soon as Renee and Kevin had found out that the organization sponsoring the league was running low on funds, they’d jumped at the chance to raise money, and had somehow come up with a costume party. Considering that it was October and university students tended to enjoy a fun party, all the tickets were sold out and it should be a successful fundraiser.
Of course Kevin had insisted on the party having a historical theme, and had argued so much that the Foxes gave in just to make him shut up. Then the team, along with the Vixens, set out to make the party a success, in-between their classes, practices and games.
Allison worked hard to make it a success, cajoling donations from various businesses and spending her own money on things that they needed to buy outright, searching through various stores for just the right item to bring her decorating vision to life, helping her friends with their costumes… and more often than not, Neil was right beside her.
Apparently, every genius designer needed a ‘cute’ sidekick.
(Neil had faced his serial killer father, survived a mob war, bargained with Ichirou Moriyama… and decided that it was best to just give in to one Allison Reynolds. Well, mostly give in. He put his foot down on some of the outfits she tried to foist off on him rather than die of embarrassment.)
They stopped by the florist to confirm that the arrangements would be ready for Saturday, then the caterers to do a final sign-off on the food order. Neil gave Allison a wary look when she dragged him into the mall, to which she laughed and promised that she wouldn’t force a new wardrobe on him that day. Instead, she treated him to an iced coffee before they picked up various odds and ends.
“Hmm, Saturday night is going to be so fun,” Allison proclaimed with a pleased smirk as she hooked her arm through Neil’s left elbow after they left the store which sold ribbons and fabrics. “Your little monster and the obtuse idiot aren’t going to know what hit them when we walk in together.”
“It’s just clothes,” Neil argued even as he let Allison entwine their fingers together. “And it’s not like you don’t always look incredible.”
“How did Minyard get lucky enough to deserve a cutie like you?” Allison asked while she shook her head as if confused; Neil knew she didn’t mean for him to answer the question. “And it doesn’t matter, we will crush them with our immense beauty.” She had that pleased grin on her face, the one whenever she was about to do something like utterly destroy an online troll or buy a ridiculously expensive item just to make someone happy.
Neil bit into his bottom lip rather than say that he didn’t want to ‘crush’ Andrew (let alone possessed ‘immense beauty’) because sometimes it was best to just let Allison be at moments like this. They only had a couple more stops, then he could pick up three pints of chocolate espresso ice cream for Andrew and go home. The day after tomorrow was the game with Blackwell, and after that was the costume party. Just a little longer and either Kevin would come to his senses or Allison would move on (with a bit of help from him, Renee and Dan).
If it was the latter… well, Neil wasn’t going to complain if Andrew decided to target a certain indecisive striker during their practice sessions, after dealing with Allison’s particular style of ‘ha, you didn’t hurt me’ bravado the last couple weeks.
*******
Andrew gave Kevin a bored look when he finally left the bedroom, dressed in a black frock coat, black trousers, a black vest and, of all things, a white dress shirt. He even had a cane and top hat to complete the outfit, and a look of long suffering when he noticed what Andrew was wearing. “How is that historically accurate?”
“It’s a toga,” Andrew informed him after he popped a piece of chocolate into his mouth. “People who are now dead used to wear them. That’s historical enough for you.”
“Dead- Romans used to wear them, not sheets haphazardly draped over sweatpants and a t-shirt, sheets with skulls on them!” Kevin took to ranting at the end, while Andrew merely gazed back and finished his chocolate bar.
Besides, what was wrong with his black skull sheets? He bet a bunch of dead Romans would be jealous as hell of them.
“Whatever, let’s go,” Kevin muttered after a few seconds of their staring contest (and losing it). “Everyone else is already there, I guess.”
“Because you take even longer than Nicky getting ready.”
“Whatever!”
Oh, what a fun night it was going to be, Andrew thought as he followed a certain pain in the ass out of their suite. Renee better be right about this whole thing working, because he wasn’t sure how much more he could take of Kevin being in a full-time snit. Add to that, Allison monopolizing Neil, and Andrew was ready to throw both of them off the top of Fox Tower.
They reached the event center, which Renee had sweet-talked the campus powers that be into ‘loaning’ them for the night’s fundraising party, to find the parking lot already filling up. PSU had always supported the Foxes, even when they’d been the district’s losers, but now that they’d won the division’s championship? The students were more than happy to back the Foxes’ charity efforts and have some fun.
Kevin glared at a couple dressed in outfits right out of some cowboy musical from the 60s, then a small group who’d had a similar idea as Andrew’s and wore a variety of printed sheets over shorts and t-shirts or tank tops. “Hey! None of that is historica-ach.”
“No one wants to hear it,” Andrew told a doubled-over history fanatic, whom he’d just smacked in the stomach.
“Bu-but the tickets said-“
Andrew knew what the tickets ‘said’ (historical costumes), and what he (along with Nicky, Aaron and several others) had carefully spread around campus; ignore the stupid tickets and don’t dress historically accurate. It had been annoying, getting the word out without Kevin none the wiser, but worth it to see his friend grow increasingly frustrated at all the inaccurate costumes once they entered the building.
There were at least ten people dressed up as Robin Hood, which meant a lot of green and spandex tights. There was also way too much bright plaid and kilts running about, along with blue face paint. There were the medieval style (meaning Ren-fest) gowns worn with sneakers or platform boots and beehives or other ‘modern’ hairstyles. There were the mishmash of armors from different cultures, the guys from the soccer team dressed up as belly dancers (something about a lost bet with the women’s soccer team), the swim team wearing outfits from a super hero movie (‘how do you know Atlantis isn’t real?’)….
Andrew was getting very tired of hearing Kevin yell ‘that’s not authentic!’; he’d become rather shrieky after the tenth time.
“Traitors!” he shouted at Dan and Matt, who appeared to be dressed up as cave people, in a fake fur one piece and shorts, respectively. “You too?”
Dan smirked around the rim of the red cup she was drinking from, which most likely contained one of the alcoholic punches they were serving. “What? Can’t be more historic than this.”
“Than what, the Flintstones? A cartoon isn’t-“
Andrew let the history nerd rant away while he went to fetch more alcohol; while he waited in line, he texted Neil to find out how much longer it would be before his boyfriend arrived and ignored his brother making an ass of himself out on the dance floor with the cheerleader.
Neil answered back that Allison was almost ready and that he hated his life.
Hmm, promising.
Kevin caught up to him (and an already half-drunk Nicky) at the snack table, where he was steadily making his way through trying each of the large variety of cookies available. “Eat something better,” Kevin complained as he piled a bunch of vegetables on a small plate, half his attention on Nicky’s obnoxiously bright pink bull fighter outfit, complete with tiny pompoms dangling along the rim of the hat. “Heathens, you’re all a bunch of uneducated heathens.”
Nicky blew a raspberry before he popped some sort of mini-tart into his mouth. “And you’re no fun. Shut up and let everyone enjoy themselves. Look at how well things are going.” He nearly knocked off Kevin’s fancy hat as he gestured around them. “Should be lots of money for those kids.”
Kevin’s resting bitch-face finally changed into something which almost resembled guilt. “Yeah, there’s that.” He glanced around at the seasonal decorations, which included a lot of white and orange offset with black and dark brown so it wasn’t obnoxious for once, at how everyone was dancing and having a good time. “Allison did a great job.”
“Of course,” Nicky scoffed. “She has excellent taste in everything, except when it comes to men.”
Oh look, the resting bitch-face was back. “What does that mean?”
Nicky once more gestured (more like flailed) his arm around. “The package may be hot, but you need to learn to appreciate what you got. I mean, look at me and my cousins.” He flashed a goofy grin before one glance from Andrew made him take a hasty step back. “Uhm, yeah, look at us. We know how to keep our sweeties happy.”
Neil better arrive soon, at the least to create a diversion so Andrew could kill his cousin.
When Kevin appeared to think about what Nicky had said, Nicky snatched up a handful of popovers and rushed back to the dancefloor. Andrew watched him flee (he knew where the troublemaker lived) while he had more punch (ghost’s breath, what a stupid name), then helped himself to more of the chocolate spice cookies.
“It’s just… all I really know is Exy and history,” Kevin said in a forlorn manner as he stared at the table covered in appetizers. “I don’t-“
“No,” Andrew declared in a flat tone. “No relationship talk.” He didn’t even talk about his relationship with Neil (what relationship?) other than insist that the idiot rabbit stay, which was more than enough to make Neil happy. “Say another word and I’ll kill you with a canape.” He would, too.
Kevin gave him a dubious look for a couple seconds, before his green eyes widened and he gulped loud enough to be heard over cheesy pop music. “Uhm, good job in the goal last-“
“No Exy talk, either,” Andrew insisted as he lifted a canape (some toasted bread, smoked salmon and herbed cream cheese thing with a very large toothpick, how nice) in a threatening manner.
Resting bitch-face had returned, which meant that Kevin was back to normal.
Andrew had just finished the canape (but kept the toothpick on hand) when his phone vibrated to let him know that Neil had finally arrived. Clicking his tongue in annoyance, he headed toward the front doors with a grumbling Kevin at his heels. People parted out of his way as soon as they got a good look at him, so it only took a minute or so before he spotted his boyfriend – more like Wymack (dressed as some aging punk rocker, a sight he never wanted to see again), due to the man’s height. Beside him, Abby (also dressed in a punk style), was complementing Allison on her dress.
No wonder it had taken the dealer so long to get ready; her hair was curled and swept into an elaborate updo held in place by various glittering pins and a pale blue ribbon which matched her outfit, a Regency style dress with an intricate lace overlay glittering from the beads woven through the material, especially at the top and along the hem. She even had elbow-length gloves, a choker around her neck, and a small velvet bag hanging from her left wrist; she could have stepped out of one of those movies which Renee and Nicky loved to watch. By her side was Neil, his costume equally elaborate in shades of light blue, pale grey and ivory, the formal suit tailored to his lean form, and auburn hair styled away from his face.
Andrew couldn’t wait to get him to the house in Columbia later and slowly peel him out of those clothes, to utterly wreck him.
While Wymack babbled on about how great everything was, Andrew glanced up and to the side to see Kevin staring dumbstruck at Allison. Inwardly rolling his eyes at the moron, he barely caught when Neil gave a slight nudge to Abby and shared a brief look with the nurse before she smiled then tugged on Wymack’s left arm.
“Come on, David, you can talk to them later. These two barely got in the door, let them have some fun.”
“Huh? Oh, right.” Wymack gave Allison and Neil a sheepish grin before he let Abby drag him away. “Have fun, just not too much fun, okay?” He seemed to give Andrew a pointed look while he said that. “No trouble!” That was directed at Neil for some reason.
Andrew flipped off the man while the others called out ‘goodbye Coach’, then went over to Neil’s side. He arched an eyebrow as he gave a slight tug to the front of the fitted blue coat.
“It was Allison’s idea,” Neil murmured in German. “I feel like I’m being smothered to death with all these layers and can’t wait to take it all off.”
“No, that’s for me to do.” He gazed right into Neil’s pale blue eyes (almost the exact same shade as the coat and Allison’s dress) as he spoke, his right hand curved around his boyfriend’s nape.
“What, smother me?”
Andrew clicked his tongue in annoyance as he tightened his fingers against warm skin. “No,” was all he said as he gave his idiot lover a significant gaze.
Neil’s blue eyes went wide (Allison had even applied smoky eyeliner around them; he approved) and his lips formed a slight ‘o’, which only made Andrew want to drag him out of the boring party and throw him into the passenger seat of the Maserati so they could leave for Columbia right then. Neil must have thought something similar since he shuffled closer and glanced to the side, where a rather haughty Allison (nothing new) watched on as Kevin made a spectacle of himself (also nothing new).
“Uhm, you look… you look amazing. I mean, the costume’s amazing. It’s so authentic and pretty and you’re pretty and….” Kevin ran out of steam as he gazed at Allison like a lovesick puppy.
Andrew thought he might throw up at any moment, it was worse than dealing with Aaron and his cheerleader or Nicky whenever Erik visited.
“Thank you,” Allison said, her voice cold enough to chill the entire large open space of the event center.
“Oh.” Kevin visibly deflated until Neil heaved a deep sigh and muttered something in French to the moron. “Oh! You did a wonderful job with the place. It looks amazing. Too. You and it look amazing. Uhm, thank you.” A bit of hope crept into his expression when Allison stopped looking so disdainfully at him.
“It was a bit of work, but it was fun to do and anything for those kids,” she admitted as she toyed with her small purse. “I’m glad we have such a great turnout.”
“Yeah.” When Andrew made a point to lift his now empty cup while staring pointedly at Kevin, the romantic moron finally got the hint and offered his left arm to Allison while asking her if she’d like a drink. She gave him a cool look for a moment before accepting both his arm and the offer for a drink.
“Finally,” Neil groaned as they watched the two leave. “He’s on his own from here on out, I don’t think even Renee can do anything.”
She could put him out of all their miseries, but Andrew refused to let her have that particular bit of fun. “You plan on staying?” he asked as he began to steer Neil toward the nearest exit.
Neil flashed him a wicked smile as he gave a light tug to the ivory cravat tied around his neck (but didn’t pull it loose – nice to see someone was following orders). “I thought we’d made plans to get me out of this stupid outfit.”
“Hmm.” Kevin was officially on his own with his… whatever with Allison; there might not be a name to what was between Andrew and Neil, but the viscous warmth which had filled his chest not long after Neil crashed into his life became molten lava coursing through his veins upon sight of that smile, at the thought of him stripping of those ridiculous clothes.
“Hey, I just noticed that you’re wearing half the bed. Maybe we don’t need to go all the way to the house?” Neil teased once they were out in the parking lot. Andrew considered it for a moment (sheets, backseat of the Maserati, Neil’s flexible nature) before he decided he wanted to be able to enjoy taking off that costume and doing that wrecking.
“No.” He shoved Neil toward the car with a good deal of impatience (that’s what he decided to call it). The annoyance of dealing with Kevin’s romantic failure all week long faded as he started the Maserati, the purr of the engine melding with Neil’s amused laugh.
*******