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For the most part, Andrew paid his teammates as much attention as one would give to a road sign. Enough attention to keep his job, to do what they need him to do, but he’s still not a team player, and making friends with inconsequential people is not on his immediate to-do list.
Jeremy Knox is slightly more interesting, if only for the fact that Kevin knows him, and according to him, he’s the only other person on Andrew’s team who has a chance of making Court. What’s more, Andrew likes to know who he’s dealing with, and the urge for leverage is one instinct he didn’t leave behind with his knives.
(Okay, so maybe he’s still a little bruised at just how many secrets Neil snuck past him.)
Still, he does his research on Knox. Raised in rural SoCal, captain of the Trojans for three years. Boring. Reputation for never getting a red card. Slightly more interesting. He hopes it isn’t insufferable morality, but that remains to be seen. He thought the same of Renee initially, and found something more substantive below. He was also a curiously private person, never indulging the press with his thoughts. He did know of the rumors that he was dating Jean Moreau, which was interesting if only because of Jean and Neil’s history.
He may not be able to take his teammates to Columbia, but he would get the answers he sought.
Conveniently, Knox was the one who he ended up rooming with for away games, seeing as he was the only one who still made the effort to speak to Andrew. The rest had clearly decided it wasn’t worth the extra effort. The first night, he learned that Knox stayed behind in order to be available to Moreau, which was an interesting confirmation if nothing else. He was tight lipped about everything else, leading to many quiet nights, which suited Andrew fine.
His next sign that Jeremy Knox might be more interesting than he appeared came near the end of the regular season. Their game was against Dallas, notorious for having an egregious number of ex-Ravens. Andrew took slightly more enjoyment than usual blasting their shots across the court, something he knew he’d get an exuberant earful from Neil about later. For now though, his sights were on the game.
It was unusual for his teams’ strikers to find themselves anywhere near Andrew, but Jeremy and one of Dallas’ dealers had managed to stay in a lock past midfield, until a hard shove sent Jeremy sprawling across the field. Andrew could see but not hear heated words exchanged once Knox stood. Andrew watched something dark and interesting flash across Knox’s face before he reeled back and decked his mark across the face.
A hush fell over the field as one by one everyone realized that Jeremy Knox was given his first red card and left the field.
Andrew leaned against the goal, face cool and unaffected, but mind moving.
--
By the time Andrew got back to the room, Jeremy was already there, and Andrew could hear his voice through the door. He stayed quiet and opted to stay outside to listen for a bit.
“I understand that...Look, I’m sorry that I worried you, and I understand where you’re coming from, but I’m not sorry for what I did...No. I’m not going to let them say whatever they want about you. Not when I know how far you’ve-...” A deep sigh. “Okay. We’ll talk tomorrow….I love you too.”
Andrew took that as a sign of the conversation’s end and headed inside. When he did, he saw Knox sitting on his bed, looking uncharacteristically annoyed. He attempted to perk up a bit when he saw Andrew.
“Hey. Sorry to keep you out of your room.”
Andrew shrugged off the apology and set his things down before sitting and looking at him. “Moreau?”
Jeremy nodded slowly, apparently surprised that Andrew was speaking to him. “Um, yeah.He was just worried after seeing the game.”
“So it was something about him that got you to crack.”
Jeremy’s jaw worked as he tried to come up with an answer to that. “Is it that surprising?”
“Be more specific.”
“That I have a temper.”
Andrew drummed his fingers against his knees. “Not surprising. Just interesting.”
“I’m happy to amuse then,” Jeremy answered, starting to turn away.
“It just means you aren’t as boring as the rest of our teammates.”
Jeremy didn’t seem to have a response to that either, so Andrew continued. “So much for those anger management classes.”
Jeremy’s mouth twisted. “Kevin wasn’t kidding. You do your research.”
Andrew waved a hand.. “It’s important to know where to push when necessary.”
“You don’t need to push. You could try asking.”
“I don’t need to ask when your motivations are so annoyingly obvious.”
Jeremy sighed. “I meant what I said when you joined. We don’t need to be enemies. Especially considering all we have in common.”
“And what would that be?”
“Well, we’re both on the wrong side of a deal we didn’t make.”
Andrew’s mouth twitched at that. “Surprised Moreau told you about that.”
“Of course he did. We’re together, so it affects me. I’d be naive to not know that I’m who they would come after if they wanted to hurt him.”
“Yet you chose him anyway.” Andrew heartily ignored the hypocrisy in his statement.
“I did. I’m too stubborn to let them tell us what we can and can’t do. At least this way I can say I didn’t run away.”
Andrew turned finally, satisfied with the answers he’d gotten tonight. He had plenty of time to learn more.
Jeremy started turning away after a few moments of silence, only perking up when Andrew had one last thing to say.
“If you’re going to be any use, you need to learn to punch better than that.”
Jeremy smiled slightly. “Out of practice.”
Andrew hummed, effectively ending the evening’s conversation.
It was a fascinating experience for both parties.