Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Neil wasn't yet a Fox the first time he met Kevin Day as an adult. After a period of mistrust, Neil moved in with Andrew and the rest of his family for his senior year in high school, transferring schools. Andrew, who was one year ahead of him, had been recruited to the Palmetto State Foxes and had somehow convinced his coach to let him bring both Aaron and Nicky along. The day before they had to move to the dorms, Andrew held Neil's wrist and placed in his hand a key to the house in Columbia.

"You'll be here when we get back," Andrew stated with certainty, letting go of Neil's hand.

"I'm not going anywhere," Neil promised. Drauma touched Virika's nose with hers, her way of saying not 'goodbye' but 'see you later'.

A couple of months after that conversation, with Andrew living at the dorms and coming home on the weekends, something on TV caught Neil’s attention. Unbeknownst to him, what he was watching was the start of a chain of events that would change his life forever.

"Ravens' player Kevin Day has reportedly broken his hand in a skiing accident", the news anchor said. "Just yesterday an ERC meeting which included Tetsuji Moryama was held at Edgar Allan, and the situation seemed tense between the Ravens' coach and the NCAA. We have no further information on the extent of the player's injuries. What will this mean for the man referred to as 'The Future of Exy'?"

"That's odd," Drauma commented from Neil's lap, "skiing at this time of the year."

"Well, it is winter," Neil reasoned, moving her to the couch so he could get up.

"But it's also the middle of the season, and that guy is obsessed with the sport."

Neil moved to the kitchen, planning on making some tea before going to bed, but before he could his phone started ringing. It was Andrew.

“Yeah?” Neil asked, answering the call.

“Turn on the news,” Andrew replied from the other side.

“I think I know what you want me to see,” Neil said, thinking about what he’d just watched, “is it about Kevin?”

“He’s here.”

“Who, Kevin?”

“Yes,” Andrew confirmed, “keep up.”

Neil put the phone on speaker so Drauma could listen to the conversation. To be closer, she jumped onto the kitchen counter her human was leaning against.

“At the winter banquet or…?”

“He showed up at the hotel,” his friend explained. “He looked like a kicked puppy.”

“But why?” Drauma asked, speaking as loudly as she could.

“Hello rabbit,” Andrew answered. “I’m not sure. Coach said we’re keeping him.”

“He’s joining the Foxes?” Neil inquired.

“Yes.”

“That’s…”

“An expected turn of events,” Drauma finished for him.

“I have to go. I’ll keep you posted.”

***

As it turned out, “I’ll keep you posted” actually meant “I’ll just show up with him at our door”. It was a Friday night, and Andrew’s group was due home any minute. Neil had already put on his boots, expecting to leave for Eden’s Twilight the moment they got back. Drauma was snuggled up inside his hoodie’s kangaroo pocket, ready to escape the cold. The doorbell rang just as he finished getting ready. Immediately, Neil noticed there was one extra person in Andrew’s group.

“You brought him here?” Neil asked, even though the answer was obvious. Kevin Day was standing behind Aaron, his height making it impossible for him to stay undetected.

Andrew shrugged and promptly entered the house, Virika hot on his heels. The lynx spared Neil a look that resembled an eye roll. Great, Andrew was in a mood. That meant Neil would get no answers from him. Kevin greeted him last, together with his daemon, who was a medium-sized dog with an almost red, glossy coat.

“Rhodesian Ridgeback,” the tall man blurted out when he caught Neil looking at his daemon. He had no idea what that meant.

“Is that her name?” Neil asked. They were still standing at the door.

“What? Of course not!” Kevin answered, looking almost offended. His daemon just looked like she didn’t want to be there, staring off into the distance. “It’s her breed.”

“Right…” Neil had to suppress an eye roll. Only a pompous idiot would tell a stranger the breed of dog his daemon was without prompting.

“Her name is Eimear,” Kevin clarified. Then he proceeded to stare at the bulge in Neil’s pocket, probably expecting an introduction.

“Drauma…” Neil whispered. The small daemon stuck her head out of the pocket and glared at their guest. “She’s a rabbit.”

Kevin frowned. “A rabbit… What kind of rabbit?”

“A pyg-” Drauma started to answer, but Neil quickly covered her mouth.

“Just a rabbit,” he said, thinking it would piss Kevin off. It didn’t. Instead, he threw Neil a haughty look and pushed past him to get inside the house.

Drauma put her head back inside the pocket. “Rude…” she commented. Eimear must have heard her because she looked back at Neil and flashed her teeth. It was the first time Neil witnessed her exhibiting any sort of personality.

***

They ended up not going out that night. For reasons no one had bothered to explain, the overall mood between the people in the house was terrible. Neil was used to sleeping on the couch, but because of Kevin, he had to change his sleeping arrangements. Fortunately, it wasn’t the first night he spent in Andrew’s room, pillows and a comforter thrown on the carpeted floor. Virika slept propped up against the door, and Drauma curled up between her front paws at some point during the night.

The next morning, Neil was predictably the first to get out of bed. His movement woke Andrew up and they got ready in a familiar silence before heading down to the kitchen. Neil had been itching to ask Andrew some questions so he took the opportunity.

“Okay, what’s going on?” he asked while Andrew started making coffee.

“You’re gonna have to be more specific.”

“Seriously?” Neil sighed in frustration. “What’s he doing here?”

The pause that followed was so long that Neil thought Andrew wasn’t going to answer at all. Finally, once the coffee was made he started talking.

“We made a deal,” Andrew said, taking a sip from his cup and making a face at how hot it was. “I’m going to protect him from the Moryamas.”

“And in turn?”

“He teaches you Exy,” Virika answered for him.

Neil blinked. That was so far out of left field that he couldn’t make sense of it. About a month after moving in, when he and Drauma deemed Andrew safe, Neil had sat him down and told him practically everything about his past. The story included a time when he, Kevin, and Riko were together at Castle Evermore and watched as Neil’s dad cut a man into pieces. Andrew knew his birth name, and he knew how important it was to keep Kevin from finding it out. Who was to say he wouldn’t eventually go back to Riko with his tail tucked between his legs? He’d definitely spill Neil’s secrets if he knew them.

“Are you crazy? Andrew, you know how much this could affect me!” he hissed, not wanting to wake anyone up.

Andrew didn’t look mad at the outburst, specifically being called crazy, but he probably was. Instead of shutting off like he sometimes did, he turned and forcibly took hold of Neil’s chin, honey-colored eyes looking into his.

“Don’t mistake my willingness to make deals for meekness,” Andrew said. “Even if he did figure you out, which he won’t, so long as I keep my end, which I will, he’ll have no reason to run back to his puppet master.”

“If he even dares,” Virika adds, “our deal would be off and we could just kill him before he did.”

The lynx didn’t really look like she was kidding. The threat of murder shouldn’t have made Neil feel a little less worried, but the truth was that it did.

Chapter Text

The second time Neil met one of the Foxes was also the first time he and Andrew had a big fight. Because of their personalities, they barely even had minor disagreements. Neil and Andrew saw eye to eye on most things. Most, but apparently not all.

It started because of Aaron. While playing their truth game, Andrew had told Neil about his brother’s addiction to pills and the extreme way in which he helped him get over it. Even though Aaron had been clean for a while now, Andrew wasn’t going to risk him relapsing. Andrew judged the players of the team based on how much of a threat they were to his family, and one of them was too much of a threat not to intervene.

One day, Neil walked past Andrew’s bedroom just in time to hear the tail end of a conversation he was having on the phone.

“Take care of him afterward and he’ll be fine,” he remarked. Whoever was on the other side hung up shortly after. Curious, Neil knocked on the semi-opened door.

“Come in,” Virika said from where she was lying down close by.

“Who was that on the phone?” Neil inquired.

“None of your business,” Andrew replied, promptly storming off with his daemon, leaving Neil to stare at a wall. That was the first red flag.

The second red flag came the following Friday when the group came back from Palmetto with a passenger Neil had never seen before. Whoever it was seemed to be at ease as his head popped out of the car window and he exclaimed, “Wow, quite the house you got here!”

Andrew parked the car but left it running, they were leaving for Eden’s soon. Neil was already halfway out the front door when Andrew got out from the driver’s seat just to tell him they were going to need two cars. Neil had recently invested in a gray Honda Civic so he could get around during the week.

“And you’re taking Matt,” Andrew told him. “Having five daemons inside one car is a disaster waiting to happen.”

“Okay,” Neil agreed. “But who’s Matt?” he prodded. The question fell on deaf ears as Andrew had already gone back to his car. But Neil was about to find out who Matt was. The man wasn’t in a hurry to get out of the Lexus, but he eventually did. Matt had more than a foot on the twins and was bulkier than Kevin. Following close behind him was a tan and white, short-sized dog.

“He has a smile on his face,” Drauma observed from Neil’s shoulder. The reason why that was worth mentioning is that, apart from Nicky, their group wasn’t known for happy facial expressions. And even the joy Nicky often showed on his face was cynical, he didn’t have the life he wanted but liked to pretend.

“Nice to meet you! My name is Matthew Boyd but everyone calls me Matt!” the man shouted excitedly as he walked closer. He extended his hand when he stopped in front of Neil. After Neil reluctantly shook it, Matt pointed to his daemon and said, “This is Eleonora.”

“I’m Neil, and this is Drauma,” he said, pointing to the bump inside his zipped-up jacket. She had hidden herself as soon as the big guy approached. Neil thought Matt seemed nice, but the trauma was hard to shake. “Let’s go.”

***

Eden’s Twilight was always full on a Friday night. More often than not being around so many strangers gave Neil a headache. It also made it more likely for someone to accidentally touch your daemon, which could make you physically ill. At least, their table at the back was usually available - and when it wasn’t, Andrew would glare at the occupant until they left.

As Aaron, Matt, Nicky, and Kevin got comfortable, Neil and Andrew went to fetch their drinks. Roland, the bartender, made himself available when he saw them. Perks of being regulars.

“What can I get ya?” he asked, in his usual cheery disposition. His mongoose daemon lay draped over his shoulders.

“The usual, but with a few extra drinks for our guest,” Neil answered, propping himself up against the barstool to wait.

“Over and under,” Andrew mentioned before Roland could start their order. The bartender stopped in his tracks and looked at Andrew with uncertainty. After a bit of a staring contest, he nodded and went away.

“What was that?” Neil asked, turning to look at his friend. Andrew didn’t even look back.

“Nothing for you to worry about,” Virika answered for him. And that was the third red flag.

***

As it turned out, it was something Neil should’ve worried about. After about one hour at the bar, after everyone but Andrew and Neil went dancing, Matt was nowhere to be seen.

“Where’s the big guy?” Drauma wondered out loud. She was sitting on the table, trying her best to avoid the small puddles of sticky liquid from spilled over drinks.

“Our guest,” Andrew started, leaning back against his chair and looking calm as ever, “is probably getting drugged somewhere.”

Neil tensed. “What?” he demanded. “Andrew, what?”

“We needed to do this, for Aaron’s sake,” Virika explained. “He relapses now, he gets clean, and that’s a problem solved.”

It was a ridiculously dangerous plan, even if it worked. Drauma jumped down from the table and took off, Neil hot on her heels. The first place they tried was the bathroom, and that’s where they found Matt. He was sitting up against the wall, Eleonora looking sleepy next to him. On the floor, Neil noticed there was a tiny, opened plastic bag with a powdery substance inside. He also spotted a dirty spoon, a needle, and, unsurprisingly, Andrew’s lighter.

“Neeeeeil, buddy,” Matt giggled, “what’s up? Aren’t the lights pretty? You’re also pretty.”

“We need to get you out of here,” Neil insisted. “Come on, get up.”

While Neil tried to help Matt up, Drauma started nipping on Eleonora’s ears to get her attention.

“Going, I’m going,” the dog daemon said with a slurred voice.

***

“What were you thinking?!” Neil snapped as soon as they got home. It wasn’t easy to get Matt inside the car, but fortunately he’d managed to guilt Nicky into helping. When they arrived, Kevin and Nicky put Matt on the couch, where he currently was, babbling nonsense. His daemon had tried to jump to his lap, but she was too dizzy and ended up lying down on the floor.

“What I was thinking was that Aaron would be in danger with an addict on the team,” Andrew said when the others retired to their bedrooms. Only Kevin remained since he had no bedroom of his own. He sat on the armchair seeing as the couch was occupied. But Kevin was drunk enough that he wouldn’t remember this conversation tomorrow - if he was eavesdropping at all, which Neil doubted since Eimear had almost fallen asleep.

“You could have killed him!” Neil accused.

“The deal I have with my brother is more important than your guilty conscience,” Andrew pointed out. He somehow maintained his composure and didn’t even bother to look at Neil, choosing instead to look down at his phone.

“But if you have a problem -” Andrew continued.

“Andrew…” Virika warned as if disagreeing with what she knew he was about to say.

Andrew put his phone back in his pocket and glared at his daemon. “But if you have a problem, the door is over there,” he finished, finally looking at Neil.

Neil heard Drauma as she drew a sharp breath and tensed up. She wouldn’t come out from inside his jacket. Neil stared at Andrew for another minute, but when nothing else came out of his friend’s mouth he rushed upstairs to pack. He didn’t have many belongings, though he did have a couple of new shirts and pants because Nicky had insisted on getting him new clothes. Everything still fit inside his gym bag. When he finished, he went back downstairs with the intention of leaving the house.

“Where are you going?” Virika asked as Neil opened the front door.

“Away,” he answered. “Andrew told me to leave if I had a problem. Well, I do have a problem.” He didn’t really want to leave, though. However, Neil was stubborn, and it was hard for him to let himself lose a battle of egos. He waited with one hand on the door handle as he saw Virika nudge Andrew to get his attention. She didn’t want Neil to leave either, which meant Andrew wanted him there. A daemon’s emotions are a reflection of your own because a daemon is your soul.

“Don’t be an idiot,” Andrew said, walking toward the front door and closing it in Neil’s face to stop him from leaving. Funny way of apologizing. “Randy Boyd, his mother, is coming to get him. I just texted her. Not that I need to justify myself to you, but she gave me permission to do what I did.”

Neil frowned. “She did?”

“She did,” Virika confirmed.

“Does that ease your little conscience?” Andrew mocked. “Where were you going anyway? Sleep on the ground in some bus station somewhere? Stupid. Just go unpack.”

And he did.

Chapter Text

“Why are you covered in bruises?”

It was a Saturday. Neil had waited until he and Andrew were alone before asking the question. They were at Sweetie’s, Neil was eating plain vanilla ice-cream and Andrew was enjoying a chocolatey milkshake. Virika, his lynx daemon, had asked for a bowl of whipped cream. Daemons didn’t need to eat, but they enjoyed it sometimes.

“Sparring at a gym,” his friend said.

“Who with?”

“Renee.”

Neil had heard the name before. Nicky wasn’t shy about making comments regarding Andrew’s relationship with whoever this girl was. Apparently, the team had bets on whether or not they were dating. Nicky also kept calling her ‘sweet Renee’, and implied she had to be very patient to be friends with Andrew. Neil hadn’t appreciated that implication.

“That girl you like,” Drauma quipped, reading her human’s mind.

Virika snorted. “AH,” she chuckled, “now that’s funny.”

Andrew raised an eyebrow at the rabbit. “Who told you that?” he asked. Then he considered his own question and dismissed it with a wave. “Never mind, I know who it was.”

“We like her, just not the way Nicky thinks,” Virika explained. Strangely, Neil felt relief when he heard that. It was a tingling sensation somewhere on his chest. Neil supposed it could also be heartburn and decided not to eat the rest of his ice cream.

***

The bruises were there almost every week. Andrew would sometimes flinch when the tender spots brushed against furniture, although it was virtually imperceptible. Neil got more and more curious as time passed. How were they sparring? Where were they sparring? Who was Renee? Even though Virika had told him Andrew didn’t have romantic feelings toward the girl, Neil couldn’t help but be jealous of the time they spent together. Drauma had recently come to the conclusion they had become more attached to Andrew and his daemon than what was safe. If they had to leave them now, it would hurt.

One month after their talk at Sweetie’s, Andrew grabbed Neil from the couch and told him they were going for a ride. They ended up at a gym near the university, but it was no ordinary gym: an open space with punching bags hanging from the ceiling and a boxing ring in the middle of the room. Sitting inside the ring was a pink-haired girl. She was putting on wrist guards but lifted her head when they came closer.

“Hello, Andrew,” she said. Her tone was almost too calm. It sounded forced and made Neil’s hair stand on end. “Who is your friend?”

“Neil, this is Renee,” Andrew introduced, “Renee, this is Neil.”

What stood out about Renee wasn’t her pink hair or her pretend tone of voice, it was the snake coiled around the post on the left corner of the ring. Her daemon. Their color was a gray that was almost metallic, making them look like something from a sci-fi movie. The snake looked to be over six feet long and they were staring right at Drauma. Neil held her a little tighter. Renee caught him looking.

“Neil, this is Neoma,” she told him, “she looks scarier than she is.”

"She looks as fearsome as she probably used to be," Virika commented, sensing Neil’s uneasiness. Renee just smiled. The snake flicked her tongue and Neil noticed it was so dark it seemed like she'd chewed on black ink.

“Uh, sorry,” Neil apologized as he snapped out of it, “this is Drauma.” He nodded at the rabbit pushing against his chest as if she wanted to get inside. Drauma wouldn’t turn around to look at Renee or her daemon, and she was quieter than usual.

“Now that introductions are out of the way,” Andrew chimed in, “let’s start.”

Andrew’s interjection was probably due to boredom, but he had also taken some tension away from the situation. Neil sat cross-legged on the rubber floor and placed Drauma in the small space between his legs. “I’ll watch,” he said. Andrew walked until he was standing in front of Neil, looking pointedly at him.

“What?” Neil asked, annoyed. “I’m not joining, don’t get any ideas.”

Andrew shook his head. That wasn’t why he was looking at Neil. “There’s a chair right there,” Andrew informed him, nodding toward a blue plastic chair in the corner.

“That doesn’t look more comfortable than the floor,” Neil pointed out, not moving an inch.

“Stay here with him,” Andrew told his daemon. Virika, who was already close to Neil, lay down at arm's length. If he extended his hand he could touch her. No, he couldn’t be thinking about that. Touching someone else’s daemon was one of the worst crossing of boundaries, though it could feel really good when consensual. Not that Neil would know.

“This will take a minute,” Virika said, “better make yourself comfortable.”

***

Watching Andrew and Renee spar was fascinating, and it was a balanced fight. They were both quick and efficient when it came to self-defense. Neil wondered whether Renee had a similar past to Andrew’s because their fighting styles were comparable. Neil had previously been worried about the bruises that kept showing up on his friend’s body, but he could see there was respect between the two fighters. And the bruises were a two-way street, Renee got as good as she gave.

Throughout the whole thing, Neoma had stayed curled around the post, her eyes rarely leaving Renee. When they finally finished, huffing and puffing, Renee let her daemon wrap around her own body.

“What did you think, Neil?” she asked, getting out of the ring. Andrew was still lying starfished on the floor. Apparently, Renee had gotten the upper hand in this particular match.

“It was entertaining, but it’s not my thing,” he lied. Well, it wasn’t completely false. Neil knew enough about fighting to defend himself, but he didn’t enjoy it.

“Well, I’m going to get my human,” Virika claimed, trotting away from them and toward the ring. Neil really wished he hadn’t been left alone with Renee, but somehow he thought it was on purpose.

“You don’t trust us very much, do you Neil?” Renee inquired, sitting down next to him.

“Us?”

“Neoma and I.”

“It’s not personal,” he reassured. Drauma was squirming on his lap. They really wanted out of this conversation.

“Isn’t it?” she wondered. “It’s okay. Your suspicions would have been right once upon a time. But we’re better now.”

“I believe you.” And Neil really did. However, you could believe someone when they said they wanted to be better, and still be wary in case they never got there.

Renee caressed her snake daemon’s head with her finger. Being so gentle was a contrast to how she fought with Andrew. Neil would always be on guard around people who could so easily switch from one emotion to the other.

“Neoma and I are a bad pair,” Renee acknowledged, “but we’re trying very hard to be a good one.”