Work Text:
It was known among the Foxes that Neil was a bit of a nerd when it came to classes. Sure, he hadn’t really focused on his classes his first year except to pass them with average grades, under the guise that he would be dead come summer anyway, but now that he was a sophomore and death was not really on his heels… well, he had more motivation to get his degree.
Not to mention, he found math to be interesting. The equations stayed the same, and Mary had always used math equations in the binder to hide their contacts. Neil liked memorizing the numbers, always using the equations to find a reliable answer. It made sense that he was a little quicker than his peers to get to an answer to a complicated math problem.
So when the end of practice had the whole exy team- and coach!- staring at him in shock, mouths agape and wide eyes, Neil didn’t really know how he had gotten to this point.
The day started like any other- wake up early in the arms of Andrew, duck an incoming punch, and slide out of bed. Neil dressed with a soft apology for waking him up and spent a few minutes making it up to him in soft huffs of yeses. Then, he went for his morning run, head blanking from anything that was his feet pounding the pavement, making a steady lap around campus before arriving at the exy court an hour after he started.
Andrew and Kevin were there already, waiting near the doors to the stadium in quiet silence. The sun peeked over the horizon now, sending golden rays over the parking lot, shining on the dew-slicked cars waiting for their owner’s return.
Neil followed the two of them inside, dressing in his uniform quickly. The morning runs always helped him prepare for the day ahead, and today wasn’t anything different. He felt warmed up, grinning at Andrew when the shorter man shoved a bagel (already bitten, Neil wasn’t surprised) into his hand.
“Eat.” Andrew punctuated his words with a steady gaze, not looking away until Neil took a bite. It had taken one too many dizzy spells for Neil to realize that he was forgetting to eat near finals season, too busy studying or practicing or running now that the threat of his demise was no longer looming over his shoulder.
Neil ate the bagel quickly, almost inhaling it, and then grabbed his racquet, heading to the court. It wasn’t a surprise to see that the rest of the team was already there, but it was rare to see them all so early in the morning. Practice wasn’t supposed to start for another twenty minutes. Maybe they lost a bet.
Ah, Kevin had his face on. Not his normal face, although that was equally as annoying. He was wearing that one face that was so smug it almost made Neil cringe. This is what today’s teenage girls crushed on? Ew.
His face only confirmed Neil’s thoughts: the rest of the team had bet on something, and Kevin had won. Early practice for all of them, then.
Nicky seemed like the worst hit out of all of them, though Matt and Renee weren’t too far behind with the grogginess. Allison, of course, looked pristine, never one to have a hair out of place. Aaron was fiddling with his shirt, trying to get a stain or something out of the hem.
Dan was talking to Kevin in a voice too quiet for Neil to hear, though he only had eyes and ears for Andrew, who was motioning him over to the goal, where he currently stood.
“Hm?” Neil asked, looking at him. It was rare for them to talk much before practice, Neil usually too excited to focus on anything other than exy and Andrew too bored to focus on exy.
“Don’t forget to work on your tells. It’s getting too easy to read your passes.” Andrew spoke quietly, watching Neil intensely. Neil was used to it. “Well then stop knowing me so well,” Neil teased, thriving in the way that Andrew frowned at that, as if it were a challenge that he knew he’d never win.
“Go away.” Andrew eventually murmured, letting out a huff that Neil grinned at.
He met up with the rest of the team, running through drill after drill, his mind entirely focused on the beauty that was exy. He loved exy, possibly more than he loved math, though definitely not as much as he cared for Andrew. It was the reason he was alive, after all, though his team perhaps was really the reason for that.
Practice passed quickly, especially after Wymack arrived and Neil helped Dan lead the team through the different drills, plays, and cooldown.
“Keeevvv, you gotta help me!” Nicky was whining to Kevin by the time Neil and Andrew arrived in the locker room, on his knees and begging for the taller man’s help. They’d already showered, though Andrew and Neil still had to.
“Do your own math homework, Hemmick,” Kevin sighed, shaking his head. Nicky only looked affronted. He let out a wail that Neil could only snort at, though that just brought attention to himself.
“Come on, Neil, help me convince Kevin! He already took my math class last year, he knows how to do the work and it’s due in half an hour! How am I supposed to do stuff like this when I don’t know what the hell 856 times 942 is- we can’t even use calculators! It’s going to take me forever!” Nicky wailed, his head in his hands.
Neil paused, but only a second before answering the pitiful man. “It’s 806352.” Then, he turned his attention to grabbing his towel and clothes to change into, only noticing the absolute silence when he turned back around to see the three men staring at him.
He frowned, eyebrows furrowed. “What?” He hadn’t said anything wrong, had he? His math was correct, maybe he’d missed a joke or something?
“Kevin, check the math,” Nicky rushed to say, prompting the tall man to pull out a calculator and type in the numbers.
After a few seconds, he nodded, looking back up. “Neil’s right.” He said, his eyes wider than normal. This wasn’t anything to be shocked about, Neil thought. “Do it again!” Nicky spoke, before texting something on his phone. Neil sighed, resigning himself to not getting a shower anytime soon.
“Okay,”
And soon enough, they were in the common room, the entire team throwing numbers at him and him saying the answer, Kevin checking every time with his calculator. Neil liked proving his talents- especially math.
And he didn’t miss the way that Andrew was absorbed in this event, either. But that was just a secret for the two of them. He was sure that he had a date with Andrew later, though.