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The Foxes tended to be fans of making bets on the most ridiculous things. There was always a bet going, and more often than not, money exchanged hands under tables. Which is why when someone (nobody could remember, but it was probably Nicky) made a bet on when Andrew and Neil would finally sort out their feelings, the rest of the Foxes pounced like, well, foxes– especially once they established the rule that they were allowed to… help the two along a bit.
Allison was the first to put money on it. “A hundred bucks says I can make them figure it out by the end of the month.” It sounded like an offhand remark, but the glint in her eyes said otherwise.
Matt grinned. “Same says I can get them to confess in two weeks.”
“One,” Nicky interjected, “and I’ll put two hundred on it.” The three exchanged devious grins.
“May the best man win.”
The bets kept coming after that, right up until every date between then and Christmas was spoken for and the metaphorical pot was overflowing with unnecessarily large bets. Even Renee was in on it. Now it was only a matter of orchestrating it so Neil and Andrew would sort things out and there would be an eventual winner, namely you (unless you were Aaron, who’d bet “never”-- then you’d have to just do your best to cockblock).
Overall, this seemed like it was shaping up to be rather interesting.
—————
The first to try and get them together was, predictably, Nicky, and his methods were about as Nicky-esque as one could possibly get, which was to say that he made a habit of creating awkward situations that were apparently perfect for confessions.
On the first day, he tried to jam the elevator doors so they’d get stuck inside.
It didn’t work.
He moved on to some more realistic tactics. These included locking them in the same room (someone unlocked the fucking door), asking them both to meet him somewhere and then ditching (they found him), and attempting to shove them towards each other with brute force.
To his surprise, none of these actually worked.
Nicky being Nicky, he came up with one final idea that he was sure would work. He got everyone together one evening (yes, he did have to bribe some of them, shut up) and pitched the idea of a game.
The cliche motherfucker wanted everyone to play Seven Minutes In Heaven.
Somehow, everyone agreed. He orchestrated it so the first pair was Neil and Andrew, waved them into the closet with a great deal of theatrics, and shut the door.
The next seven minutes were a mess of whispering, listening, and anticipation. When the two emerged from the closet, everyone immediately shut up and turned to them. Neither one was at all dishevelled.
Nicky, still not ready to give up, grinned mischievously. “So, what’d you guys get up to in there?”
Neil glanced at him confusedly. “Discussed Exy stats. What else?”
“But– it’s Seven Minutes In Heaven!” Nicky fake-cried.
“...Exactly,” Neil said cautiously. “Seven minutes of talking Exy with Andrew. It was good.”
Nicky collapsed onto the couch in despair.
That marked the end of his week.
—————
Matt’s week was next, and he didn’t have a lot planned aside from get the two of them to stop being dumbasses and actually realise their feelings, also known as become a relationship therapist. He was very excited about this, obviously, but oh, the bets. THE BETS.
It started with a sit-down conversation with Neil over coffee one morning. Matt figured Neil would be easier to get through to, but he wholly and totally underestimated the amount of dumbassery that could fit into the redhead’s 5’3” frame.
“So,” Matt started, sipping his coffee, “it kind of seems like there’s something happening between you and Andrew…”
Lie.
Neil paused, mug halfway to his lips. “Really? I mean, does it? Is there?” He seemed flustered. This was a good sign.
“Yeah, it does,” Matt continued, biting back a grin. “What’s going on there? Only if you’re willing to share, of course.”
“Um. Nothing?” Neil tried.
Matt was not so easily discouraged by this sudden change in demeanour. “Oh, come on. Everyone knows you guys have got something going on!”
At this moment, Aaron walked in, looking like he’d just had a rude awakening.
“Oh! Aaron!” Neil called happily. “Does it seem like there’s something happening between me and Andrew?”
“God, I hope not,” Aaron mumbled, shuffling back the way he came, now bearing a mug of coffee. “That would be insufferable.”
Neil gave Matt a pointed look, ignoring the one Matt shot Aaron’s retreating form. “See? Nothing.”
Matt moved on to Andrew next, but didn’t get further than a “No.” Not for lack of trying, though. He kept persisting, switching up his targets each day, but it just never became fruitful.
Thus ended Matt’s week, and with it, his $100.
—————
Allison was next. With one week left to the end of the month, she decided to get straight to the point.
“So. You and Andrew,” she stated. She’d brought Neil to a little bakery under the pretence of muffins, which, technically they were eating, but she’d had bigger things in mind.
“What about us?” Neil asked, dropping a couple of crumbs.
“Come on. You can tell me,” she tried, flashing her most winning smile. “Matt told me all about you and your chemistry. What’s happening there?”
“Nothing, just like I told Matt,” Neil said confusedly, breaking his muffin into pieces. “What’s with the sudden curiosity, anyway?”
“No reason,” Allison lied, brushing away the question along with a few crumbs. “Would you like it if there was something between you two?”
Neil paused. “Why?”
Allison froze. “Because… I’m curious?”
The scepticism on Neil’s face was evident. “Okay, and why does that mean you want to try and set us up?”
“No reason,” Allison repeated, knowing she was losing her target more and more by the second. “Hey, do you want another muffin?”
Allison, whether she meant to or not, let her week go. Something about forcing it didn’t feel like a good idea.
—————
Next up was Renee. She, out of all of them, was probably the most likely to figure something out, and nobody was quite sure what she’d do, only scared they’d lose the bet. And already, something was different about her attempt: she started with Andrew. Or, at least, everyone thought she did, because the two of them disappeared for a concerning amount of time after practice one day, and she returned looking rather triumphant. She wouldn’t say anything, but by God, was everyone going to try and get the secret out of her.
The stakes had changed: no longer was the key to get Neil and Andrew together, oh no. This week, the Foxes would try and get the information out of Renee.
She was not easily swayed, it turned out. Allison, Dan and Matt all tried, followed closely by Nicky, but none of them got anything out of her on the matter except a smile and a “why don’t you ask him yourself?” Still, she and Andrew seemed to be sharing a lot of cryptic glances, often when Neil was in the room, which lent a lot of suspicion to the matter– and nobody really wanted to confront Andrew about it.
Renee’s week was an enigma. Who was winning? Nobody was quite sure.
—————
The week after was meant to be Dan’s.
Extenuating circumstances put a pin in that idea.
See, it had all been going wonderfully after Renee’s week– there were repeated attempts to get the information out of Renee and Neil, and a few brave souls even attempted to question Andrew– but something was off about Dan’s week, mainly the fact that Neil and Andrew seemed to be disappearing a lot more often than they should have been. After practice, in between classes, whenever a spare moment seemed to crop up, Andrew and Neil just… vanished.
This raised a lot of speculation.
The next time the two of them disappeared, the rest of the Foxes called an unofficial team meeting.
“What is going onnnnn? ” Dan questioned, eyes searching Renee for answers. All she got in return was a cryptic smile.
“Something, obviously,” Matt pointed out, “because they’re avoiding us every chance they get.”
“Do you think that maybe, possibly, somehow, they caught on?” Aaron’s voice was dripping with sarcasm. “You know, what with everyone interrogating them and setting them up and whatnot?”
“Oh, my God, they know,” Nicky groaned. “They totally know!”
“Where do they even go?” Allison asked, throwing up her freshly-manicured hands in annoyance.
Renee looked up from her phone at this, still smiling. “Have you tried the roof?”
There was a collective scuffle as everyone made for the stairs.
The Foxes were about as quiet as a herd of elephants, but somehow they made it up the stairs and to the door leading out to the roof. “Renee? Do you want to do the honours?” Nicky asked, motioning to the door.
“Alright,” she agreed, and twisted the knob. The door swung open painfully slowly, and everyone held their breath collectively as more and more of the roof was exposed.
Including the ledge where Neil and Andrew were currently perched. On further inspection, there might’ve been a kiss or two exchanged.
Aaron made an “oh-fuck-why-me” face.
Allison smiled. “Let them have their mome—”
She was interrupted as Nicky squealed at a pitch formerly unknown to humankind. “YOU WERE ALREADY TOGETHER?”
Andrew whipped around so fast he almost pitched Neil off the roof. “You meant right now?” he asked Renee, ignoring Nicky and his mental breakdown.
“Indeed I did,” she smiled. “Besides, the bet was getting old.”
“Wait,” Matt interjected. “If they’ve been together this whole time, who gets the money?”
“You hid this from us AND upset the pot?” Nicky seemed to be going into hysterics.
“We do,” Andrew responded. “Because we knew what was happening before you did.”
Neil gave a sheepish laugh. “Surprise?”
—————
So, in the end, the bet was not technically won. Neil and Andrew ended up with the winnings, out of fairness, and lorded it over everyone that they’d been able to hide it for so long.
It all turned out fine in the end. After all, the winner takes it all.