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The damn historian and his pickiness. Kevin crossed the university corridor with a quick and nervous step, clutching the strap of his bag. History is literally his main subject, but the history teacher was not at all embarrassed when he shamelessly stated that there was no difference what grade Kevin had in his certificate if his career ladder was already laid and was just waiting for him to climb it. This madly angered, angered so much that the Striker also shamelessly grabbed his things and flew out of the classroom under the man's scream. Anger literally spread through his veins, and a huge desire grew in his chest to hit something to calm his hands, which were trembling a little from tension. There was a washroom on the way, and Day decided to calm down and rinse his face first before returning to the dorm — he would not want to accidentally throw out his emotions on any of the Foxes, because no one needs unnecessary conflicts in the team - God forbid, they will put him on the bench again.
Just at the moment when he wanted to take hold of the handle, the door swings open abruptly and 4 grinning guys appear in the doorway, who seemed to be planning to start a stormy conversation, but at the same moment fell silent when they saw Kevin's displeased face.
It was no secret to many that the Second Fox striker was not particularly friendly and most tried to avoid him to avoid trouble, and only a few knew that the guy was quite calm and ready to help his classmates if necessary. The truth was that after a couple of months of studying at Palmetto, Kevin realized that people were afraid of his frowning expression, and just started using it so that students wouldn't pose as journalists with their obvious questions. But this time Kevin was really angry, and it could not hide from the company, which one by one almost ran out of the bathroom, disappearing around the corner. After giving the guys a puzzled look, Kevin looks around and freezes in place.
— What the fuck... — the Striker hisses, and all the anger is removed as if by hand by the picture presented in front of him:
Nicky was sitting on the dirty floor, in the corner of the washroom, with his head down so that his curly hair covered his eyes, but Day can still see blood on someone's face and knees, which Nicky pulled up to his chest, probably to protect himself. Even in the morning, he saw an overly cheerful Hemmick, who almost glowed with overflowing energy, received messages from Eric with a smile and told something emotionally to the gloomy Aaron, who clearly did not listen to his cousin.
Kevin closes the door and walks briskly over to Nicky to get a better look at the injuries and decide how to help. Only now did he notice that the dark curls were wet and the water from them dripped onto the plaid shirt, getting wet and leaving streaks, and the white T-shirt under it was in no less deplorable condition. Crumpled notebooks with blurred ink and some accessories in the form of pencils and pens are scattered around - a couple were definitely broken and lay next to an inside—out briefcase, which clearly lacked several bright icons.
Nicky was silent, and it seemed that he wasn't even breathing — he was so quiet, but in fact Kevin could see how often his chest was heaving in an attempt to bring his breathing back to normal.
— Nicky, what's wrong? Kevin calls again.
Nicky raises her head, peering into the face opposite. Now the damaged nose is clearly visible, from which blood was still oozing, as well as the broken and swollen lower lip, which is slightly trembling, but it is impossible to determine from what — from the reaction of the nervous system to stress or cold.
Realizing that this is not an enemy in front of him, Nicky finally comes to his senses, but this does not make him look less like a frightened animal trapped in a trap.
— Just a little skirmish… This happens sometimes, nothing important," his voice trembles noticeably, and it immediately becomes clear that Hammick is trying his best to give him resilience, but obviously it turns out terribly.
"You're bleeding."
"We all have blood in us, silly.
"You're all wet and dirty," Day declares, ignoring the attempt at a joke and trying to figure out what to do next. "I can call Andrew or Aaron, do you want?"
— No, you don't need to!
It was too abrupt and intermittent due to uneven breathing, Kevin's eyebrows involuntarily fly up, to which Nicky, in turn, looks down again, automatically licking his lips and immediately wincing from the burning pain. After a couple of seconds of reflection, Kevin still understands the nature of such an answer, because the last time Andrew stood up for his brother, it ended badly, and who knows what would have happened if the situation had repeated. Aaron wasn't the best option either—if he found out, Andrew would find out too.
"Okay," the Striker sighs, then opens his bag, wanders back and forth for a while before pulling out a pack of dry wipes and handing it to the guy opposite, "First wipe the blood off your face, okay?
Nicky accepts the package, awkwardly trying to get one napkin, but his hands still do not obey, although he does not stop trying. A half-smile remains on his face, which Kevin wants to erase and not hear a quiet, nervous giggle combined with muttering something stupid, like "God, how clumsy." No matter how much Nicky's defensive reaction works, the body, still on the verge of a panic attack, gives him up with guts.
The blood continues to flow in a stream and Nicky convulsively begins to wipe his nose with the edge of his shirt, soiling the light fabric and smearing everything on his face, and this does not help at all.
For some reason, it seems that opening the ill-fated package of napkins will be another cause of a nervous breakdown, and watching his efforts becomes unbearable.
Stretching out his hands to the defender, Kevin whispers, "Let me," gently stopping the trembling and terribly cold hands to finally finish what he started and stop the bleeding. Nicky doesn't say a word, tries to swallow the lump in his throat and just lets Day take care of it, because, as practice has shown, in this state, the only thing he can do is sit in silence and only occasionally look uncertainly at Kevin.
They spend some time in silence, each in his own thoughts, and, frankly, Kevin had no idea how to help, especially a person like Nicky. It was no secret to him that he always smiled, and sometimes only those who had an idea of falsehood could expose his smiles, but for the most part they kept silent. Nicky does not like to give cause for concern to his cousins or to one of the foxes, only sometimes he pours out his soul to Eric and only behind the closed door of the room. Nicky leaves everything inside in the same place, stubbornly pulling the most charming smile on her face. Even now, with his clothes stained with his own blood, wet and shivering, he could giggle and try to laugh it off.
With a sigh, the striker rises from his seat under a slightly worried look, takes out another napkin and goes to the sink to quickly lower it under the water and wring it out before returning to his seat.
— Can I? — Day clarified, stopping his hand a few centimeters from Nicky's face — practice has taught him to always ask before touching someone. After receiving a weak but affirmative nod, Kevin wipes the bloody smudges from his cheeks and chin as thoroughly as possible, trying not to touch the split lip and carefully tracing the slightly wrinkled cheekbone, although Nicky still squints a little from unpleasant sensations.
Now that the blood is no longer gushing from his nose, and his face looks less bloody, Day throws the dirty papers into the trash and sits down on the courts again in front of Nicky, who has relaxed a little, but the general anxiety and uncertainty have not gone away. Figuring out a plan of action in his mind, the first thing Kevin thinks about is solving the problem with wet clothes.
— Take off your shirt and put on my hoodie, — Nicky opens his eyes in surprise, and then looks doubtfully at the striker's beige hoodie, with a small fox paw on his right chest, — It's scary to look at you, if we run into someone, there will be questions and even bigger problems.
And indeed — all the clothes are stained with bard, torn in places, the lip is swollen, the palms and knees are bruised, and things are still lying in the corners of the restroom. It doesn't look like he has a choice, so Hammick lifts himself up a little, writhing in pain in a body that has probably been hit several times, and carefully takes off his shirt, changing it for Kevin's hoodie, which now stands in a white T-shirt with some minimalistic print.
"Speaking of time, we don't have much of it," Day reminds, grabbing Nicky's shirt and briefcase, hastily collecting things scattered on the floor. "I do not know how much time is left until the end of classes, but it would be better for us to leave here as soon as possible, while there is no one here, I have come."
Throwing pens, pencils, and so on into the bag, Kevin looks around for badges, because among everything else there were only them — he knows perfectly well how much Nicky likes them, so it was impossible to leave without them; the first was found at the door, the other was crumpled almost at Nick's foot.
Alternately opening the booths, in one of them Day discovers traces of dirty shoes and water splashed on the sides; looking a little deeper, Kevin frowns, angrily clenches his fists and stubbornly suppresses the desire to find these guys right now and give everyone a good slap in the face — the toilet was full of Nicky's notebooks torn to shreds, because, obviously, it would be impossible to flush them anyway, and on top of this mess there were badges, one of which he was disfigured by something sharp (he used to have a rainbow flag on him), and next to him was a second one with a torn pin (it seems that Nicky brought this badge from Germany when he flew to Eric on vacation).
— "Bastards..." — Nicky flinches when Kevin slams the door hard, wincing at the deafening sound, — Let's go.
Taking Nicky, who has already risen to his feet, by the hand, Day zips up his briefcase and throws it over his shoulder, finally leading the not particularly resisting Nicky out of the room, heading straight for the exit in the hope that no one will stand in their way. And, lo and behold, it didn't actually happen, and before going outside, Kevin turns around to put a hood over Hemmick's head. He wants to continue on his way to the dorm as quickly as possible, but in the end he has to slow down a little so that the wounded man can keep up with him.
"Will you tell me exactly what happened?" — Kevin decides to ask anyway, — it will be enough for me to find out in general terms the essence of what happened.
Not that he was going to push and pull information out of Nicky, but he would like to know at least briefly so that he would have an idea of the further plan of action.
Nicky is silent for a while, looking down at his feet. Because of the still not quite confident step, Kevin holds him by the sleeve of his hoodie, from under the hood of which Nicky still does not dare to show his face.
"Classic," a quiet voice finally says. Kevin turns his head in his direction to hear better—typical homophobic assholes — saw the badges, tried to hurt me with it and eventually took offense at my answer about their limited thinking and latency.
"Do you know them?"
"Faculty of Business".
Kevin remembers hearing about these guys and fights involving them several times, but he never delved into gossip. There was only one case when they almost came into conflict with Neil, but someone's sharp tongue and a murderous look of brown eyes behind his back did their job.
Nicky is a conflict-free person - with idiotic jokes and the ability to be sarcastic, but the last one who would get into a fight. No wonder those four jerks chose him as a victim.
The rest of the way passed in silence—Nicky was lost in his thoughts, and Kevin wasn't going to pull him out of them, just supporting him by the sleeve so that he wouldn't stumble and fall. It would seem that after the events that happened almost a year ago, everything should get better, but here and there the team often had problems.
— Andrew and Aaron will notice anyway, — they stopped at the door to Nicky's room, and Kevin still decided to ask a question, — How are you going to justify yourself?
It sounded rather rude, but Nicky knows better than anyone else what lies behind this mask of assumed severity.
Maybe it seems so to him, but sometimes Kevin makes small concessions and gives privileges, in his own way, of course, but it cannot be said that such moments do not warm the soul.
To keep silent when Nicky once again abuses something terribly high-calorie; to play one round of a stupid video game when Aaron gets tired of defeats and leaves (Kevin also never managed to win); to allow him to take his laptop to watch the series when Nicky's laptop was given for repair.
It becomes obvious that the striker treats Nicky with much more trust than the rest of the team, and Nicky promised himself to appreciate such rare acts of kindness.
"I'll come up with something," sighs Hammick, "anything will do for them as an excuse...I'll say that I fell down the stairs unsuccessfully, staring at the phone screen, and that's it."
In fact, Aaron may believe in such carelessness on the part of his brother, but Andrew is far from stupid and will probably immediately see through the lie in his words. To be honest, it's hard to even imagine what will happen next, given that lying to Andrew's eyes is fraught with consequences.
— Whatever you say.
Kevin hands the soiled briefcase into Nicky's hands and is about to return to his room when he is quietly called out.
"I'll wash your hoodie and return it," Kevin nods curtly at this, "and thank you."
He has no doubt that the hoodie can be washed off from blood, but in the end someone will somehow have questions about what a sweatshirt a couple of sizes bigger with the number "02" in the whole back is doing in a basket with dirty laundry in the room where Matt, Aaron and Nicky live. Well, it should be fun.
Nicky disappears out the door, and Kevin leaves right after that.
***************
The next day, late in the afternoon, when Andrew and Neil went up to the roof, and Kevin was calmly reading one of the novels that he had been putting off for a long time, there was a knock on the door.
Unsurprisingly, it turned out to be Nicky, who looked a little nervous while crumpling up a clean hoodie.
— Hey, — he smiled as usual, but still a little uncertainly, because there was still a small bruise on his cheek, and probably the feeling was not pleasant, but a smile is something that Nicky can't control, - There are no spots anywhere, but yesterday Matt noticed anyway. I said that I took it once and didn't return it, so if he asks, make the most displeased face, as you know how, and scold me a little for show.
— Understood… How are you doing?
— I was lucky, Aaron and Matt were not at home by the time I arrived. I treated the wounds, then called Eric, he asked me to thank you for taking care of me," Nicky smiles shyly, remembering yesterday's conversation with her boyfriend, and Kevin does not hold back a weak smile.
He met Eric only during a match against the Ravens, when the man flew in from another country, quitting his job to support his boyfriend. This act really deserved respect. It's nice to know that next to each of the foxes there is a person they can trust.
Just as Kevin was about to say something, two figures appear from around the corner, causing them both to flinch-why so quickly?
— Hi, Nicky.
Neil says, followed by a slightly disheveled Andrew. Their eyes cling to Nicky's cheek, after which Andrew's gaze quickly scans him to his full height, but this time the baggy clothes prevent him from seeing anything — " Is something wrong?"
— God, you won't believe it! — Nicky continues to crumple the fabric in his hands even more convulsively, - I went down the stairs from the second to the first to go to the cafeteria, but Alison threw off a video with the bassist from that band, well, I told you so.
Neil definitely doesn't remember a single bass player, but diligently pretends to understand who he is talking about.
—I wasn't looking where I was going, so I ended up flying only halfway and hit the railing on my cheek. Aaron said that I should be less reckless, at least from time to time.
It sounded pretty convincing, but Nicky's nervousness was betrayed by his own hands, which were constantly fiddling with his hoodie. Kevin knows for sure that Andrew noticed it with a high probability, even if he didn't show it.
Unable to stand the prolonged silence, Kevin takes his thing and says something about Eric, to which Nicky first makes a puzzled face, and then he finally gets it, and he pulls the phone out of his pocket, retreating back to his apartment, ostensibly to call his boyfriend again.
Well, it's not the best attempt to hide the truth, but it's not the worst either, since neither Neil nor Andrew made any attempt to stop the rapidly retreating Hammick.
— What's the matter?
The question comes right after the door slams. The tone of Andrew's voice suggested that lying would be fraught with consequences. Kevin has experienced firsthand what it's like to face the consequences of your actions when Andrew is your punisher. Sometimes he still wakes up from nightmares, trying to breathe in more air and trying in vain to get rid of the ghostly sensations of hands on his neck that once protected him. After that, Kevin usually couldn't stay in the same room with Andrew for a long time and most often slept on the couch for the rest of the night, and in the following days stayed overnight at Abby's.
From that very day everything turned upside down: although it was impossible to say that something was wrong, but at every meeting Andrew was always separated from Kevin by 2-3 people in the living room on the couch. For the first two weeks, being with Andrew indoors or on the court, even in the presence of Fox and his father, was a herculean effort, and sometimes, if possible, he came up with the most terrible and improbable excuse to get as far away as possible.
And even now, when the traces of suffocation had long disappeared and everything gradually began to return to normal, the cold war between Day and Minyard seemed not going to yield to the thaw. It was hard to tell what Andrew thought about it, but sometimes Kevin caught Neil's dejected look when he once again left in the middle of a dialogue with a stupid excuse.
— What are you talking about?
— Don't take me for an idiot, Day, — it sounds mocking, but everyone who knows Andrew would have realized long ago that this is not good, — You are not so interesting as to try to reveal your secret, so it would be nice if you deigned to explain yourself right now.
Okay, that was really unpleasant to hear… And it was far from a request — it was a veiled order.
- I have nothing to tell you, - Kevin quietly squeezes out, gathering the remnants of courage in himself, - you know exactly as much as you are allowed to.
Andrew's eyebrows went up, which clearly indicated his displeasure. Kevin may not have promised Nicky to remain silent, but even if the icy sparks of the conflict were eliminated, he knew exactly what these two would do as soon as they found out the truth. And it wasn't that Kevin was against justice, but he was worried about Nicky's reaction — he would hardly be happy when he found out that someone else found out about this conflict, and his brother and close friend were in trouble again because of him. Andrew and Neil are clearly not the type to stop after one punch in the face, and on top of that, their not-so-clean reputation will further complicate the situation.
And now, if we go back to the conflict between the striker and the goalkeeper, then it's a matter of principle — Kevin just wanted to make Andrew a little nervous and think about how to get information.
With a nod, Kevin made it clear that the conversation was over, and quickly retreated into the room, hoping that no one else would think of continuing the dialogue.
Two long days later, thoughts about the incident still stuck in Kevin's head, who sometimes secretly watched the overly cautious Nicky, who often began to censor himself in public places or where there could be a certain crowd of people, even if he knew everyone personally. It was foolish to expect that Andrew and Neil would give up their attempts to find out as much information as possible, even if the former pretended that he was absolutely not interested in it, saying: "I won't pull words out of you if you don't want it, it's your business," but in fact, it seems that even Nicky himself began to notice a mixture of light and dark eyes on himself.
Thinking about what happened, suddenly it became known about another confrontation in the same bathroom where Nicky was found beaten some time ago. Both were listening to the conversation taking place in the cafeteria, and when Kevin decided to ask for details, the girls who were violently discussing this strangely sensational conflict were happy to tell everything they knew. In fact, Kevin was surprised only by the stupidity of these guys, who suddenly felt a surge of fearlessness, blindly believing that such a thing would go unpunished.
After exchanging glances with Nicky, he purses his lips and immediately goes to his classroom so as not to hear further dialogue. Well, that's really bad.
It wasn't hard to guess that the rumors had reached the inseparable duo, so at the same moment another question arose: what would they do and what would be the consequences?
It was naive to think that Andrew and Neil wouldn't put two and two together and come to an obvious conclusion about what happened, but it's probably not worth mentioning who exactly we're talking about, right? Although, maybe Kevin is paranoid, and these two will not act thoughtlessly or do nothing at all.
But, admittedly, the longer he thought about it, the stronger the rumbling indignation flared up somewhere inside: for some reason, a terrible memory suddenly flashed through his thoughts about a man who once tried his best to erase Kevin as a person, and, looking back, isn't this an approximate is the same thing happening with Nicky?
Probably, such a situation was not an isolated one and, frankly, Kevin is unlikely to be able to imagine how often Nicky faced a wave of hatred in his direction because of the orientation that he was not going to hide. It was interesting how he managed to keep a smile after that and not look like a person who had just been tried to destroy. Of course, for the most part this is done for the sake of the twins and in order not to cause concern to others, acting on the principle of "Others may be worse off than me.", but comparing these two cases, Kevin's personality was erased long before the escape and all that remains is about an ambitious, bright young man looking far away into a bright future, is a black two on the cheek, now turned into a queen, an empty mind, fixated on the field and the desire not to die. Looking at Nicky, at first glance it is impossible to say that deep inside something breaks off and disappears into a huge abyss of all kinds of fears: rejected by parents, beaten by society with its "norms" and "morality", leaving its only ray of salvation from the endless darkness to give the same faint hope for two other souls. It's strange to imagine Nicky without shining eyes and his toothy smile. It's a terrible feeling.
Replaying these flashing thoughts in his head for the hundredth time, Kevin decides to stop, not letting emotions get the better of him. Looking up, he stumbles upon a familiar curly top with a ponytail on the back of his head, which moves forward with a springy step, and Kevin even sighs with relief, finding somewhere in himself the hope that everything is better than it might seem, but then his gaze clings to two familiar disgusting faces, It looks like they also see Nicky and they pull disgusting grins on their face, bypassing it from both sides. They say something, but it's hard to make out from this distance, although it's clear from Nicky's slightly shaking shoulders and sharp double laughter that nothing good came out of their dirty mouths. Turning around, Hammick looks uncomprehendingly at the still laughing guys, and there is obvious disgust in his eyes.
Great, anyway, there wasn't much time to think.
Throwing the bag off his shoulder, without hesitating for a second, Kevin punches one of the freaks in the face. The guy is thrown into the lockers with a bang, and a sharp pain pierces his arm. The unpleasant sound of a savory blow is drowned out by the exclamations of the students, who all abruptly part, forming a circle around the fight that has begun. Taking advantage of the confusion of the second, Kevin grabs him by the breasts, throwing him at the first, after which both fall to the floor. Screams are heard all over the floor, two guys, clearly shocked by the unexpected attack, are trying to recover, looking with fear at Day towering over them. Small drops of blood run down the knuckles unpleasantly. Kevin puts his hand on the metal above their heads and looks straight into the battered faces burning with the green flame of his eyes.
— What makes you think that you have the privilege to do to someone the same as I did to you now, and go unpunished? - Kevin hisses loudly, - and how do you have so much self-conceit to allow yourself to create problems for someone who thinks much wider than you? You're not special.
Teachers and security guards, who arrived at the call of the frightened students, did not allow the tirade to continue. Now problems cannot be avoided. This completely contradicted everything Kevin had been actively trying to convince himself of for several days. At some point, an unpleasant feeling appeared somewhere in my chest, which, most likely, was the realization of my own stupidity.
Before he was taken away, Kevin accidentally bumped into Nicky's shocked face in the crowd, which distorted for a moment and expressed a desperate attempt not to laugh out loud. Regret was blown away like the wind.
Well, at least Nicky was still the same fan of beating up bad guys. Good... In a way, it was worth it.