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“And this is where you guys will be staying.” Matt Boyd says with a grand flourish as he pushes the door to their new dorm room open.
The obnoxiously tall backliner is a little too friendly in Andrew’s opinion. It’s not his job to give them a tour or to show them their new rooms, and yet as soon as he spotted Andrew Nicky and Aaron getting out of the GS, he introduced himself and took it upon himself to be their tour guide.
Andrew had only agreed to it because of the track marks on his arms. If he’s going to be a threat to Aaron’s sobriety, as new as it was, Andrew needs to deal with it. Quickly. So far, all the giant had done was laugh good-naturedly at Nicky’s flirting and remained unbothered by Aaron’s bitching. He only looked vaguely confused by Andrew’s blank face.
Still, Andrew only sends him a brief look as he steps into the room that will be housing him and his family for the foreseeable future. It will fit them all and maybe one more person. That’s all Andrew can really say about it. Aaron has already claimed his bunk, while Nicky has wandered to the window and is still babbling at Matt about “living with a bunch of fit athletes.”
If Andrew wasn’t… Andrew, he might have rolled his eyes.
“Matt?”
A woman Andrew recognizes as Dan Wilds comes up to Matt’s side, wrapping an arm around his waist in a casual show of intimacy. Her oak brown eyes lock onto the cousins, and she flashes straight white teeth at them.
“Oh, hi! You must be the freshmen.” she greets. She strides over with her hand extended toward Andrew, who’s closest to her. “I’m Dan, I’ll be your captain this year.”
Andrew looks down at her hand and then back at her face, unmoved. Nicky laughs nervously and steps in between them, taking Dan’s hand in his own.
“Hey, Cap! I’m Nicky, this is Andrew, and that’s Aaron.” he explains quickly. “Andrew’s not big on touch or, uh…” he pauses, lost for words.
“Manners.” Aaron sneers snidely, though Andrew notices he doesn’t offer his own hand to shake.
Andrew offers a deadpan salute to the captain, who frowns at him.
“Right…” Matt says, his smile a little strained now. “... anyways, Allison isn’t here yet, but everyone else is either already moved in or is getting settled. Dan and Renee are down the hall on the right, and Seth, Kevin, Neil, and I are on the left.”
There's a palpable shift in the room at the sound of Neil Josten's name. Last year's newest freshman, who had to share the spotlight with the son of exy, Kevin Day. Kevin had spent the year as an assistant coach, but even then, he'd gotten plenty of negative media attention. Unfortunately for the press, Neil Josten has a protective streak a mile wide, and he had flayed any of them who'd dared to imply Kevin should return to the Raven just by opening his goddamn mouth. And then his serial killer father kidnapped him after a game, and the press had a goddamn field day. And then the press had to deal with Kevin, who seemed to have grown a backbone, not for himself, but for his teammate who was recovering from what the public could only suspect was hours of torture. None of their cameras had gotten the privilege of catching Nathaniel Wesninski's face.
“The serial killer kid?” Aaron scoffs. “I’m surprised they let him room with anyone.”
Dan and Matt’s expressions go stony and furious almost instantly. Interesting.
“Don’t fucking talk about things you don’t understand.” Matt snaps, rising to his full height rather than remaining slumped on the doorway. Andrew tenses, ready to step in front of his brother.
But Aaron only scoffs and turns back to his bunk. Matt scowls at the back of his head before gritting his teeth and turning back to Nicky.
“If you need any help unloading your stuff, just ask.”
Nicky nods weakly, and Matt turns to leave with Dan on his heels.
“You think they’re going to be a problem?” Dan asks, once they're out of earshot of the strange freshmen. She watches her boyfriend’s shoulders bunch with tension. She touches his arm lightly in support, and it seems to drain out of him almost instantly with a gusty sigh. He sends her a tired smile.
“Honestly, I can’t tell if Neil’s going to forcefully adopt them or rip them apart.”
Dan barks out a laugh at that. “Yeah.” She thinks about their newest striker and how much he went through last year. She remembers how he’d torn their team apart last year, only to carefully patch it back together to make them stronger. She remembers how they had lost him, only to get him back freshly tortured, fully expecting him to be raw and broken. She remembers how he came back spitting fire and determined to shove his survival down the throats of anyone who had doubted him and his team.
“Yeah, you're probably right.”
“... how big do you think the betting pool is going to get when Ally gets a look at them?”
Andrew doesn’t hear his footsteps. No creaking of floorboards or whisper of breath. It’s the crinkle of the chip bag that gives Neil Josten away.
Andrew turns, ready to level whichever misguided Fox has come to bother them with his deadliest glare, and then…
It’s the hoodie that Andrew notices first, bright white and loose with a fluffy hood pulled over auburn hair. The only spots of color are the pink pocket on the belly and the pink insides of the two floppy ears attached to the hood.
Next are the thighs, lean, honey brown, and peppered with freckles. Andrew’s eyes catch on a thin white scar slicing through the soft skin of his left inner thigh. Andrew can’t see any pants. Is he not wearing pants?
And then Neil Josten’s face punches the air right out of his lungs.
Andrew has seen pictures of him, of course, they’d plastered photos of his scowling face all over the news for weeks after his kidnapping and the resulting reveal of the Butcher of Baltimore. However, all of those had been either photos of him when he was ten or disguised with false brown hair and eyes. Andrew had appreciated his strong jaw and intense stare, but that had been it.
With hair of burnished crimson and eyes of the clearest crystal stark against the tanned tone of his skin. Even with the knife and burn scars riddling his cheeks, Neil Josten is gorgeous.
He’s leaning against the doorframe, a bag of Smartfood popcorn (“white cheddar” the bag declares the flavor) in one hand and his bare feet crossed at the ankles.
Blue eyes watch the cousins notice his presence with vague interest.
“Hey.” he greets around a mouthful of popcorn.
Nicky makes an odd, choked sound, and Andrew hates how much he empathizes with his cousin in that moment.
“Matt said I should come introduce myself.” he drawls, blinking slowly at them like a lazy cat. “Something about ‘some asshole who thinks I’m going to murder him in his sleep’... or something.” He shoves another handful of popcorn into his mouth, seemingly mostly talking to himself as his eyes roam the room.
Aaron goes stiff, glancing at Andrew as if he’s expecting the tiny redhead to lunge for him in the middle of the dorms.
Andrew is transfixed by the parting of pouty lips as the blue-eyed menace sucks white powder from slender fingers.
Neil’s eyes return to the cousins when none of them speak up, arching a ginger brow at them.
“And is Matt stepping in as the fatherly figure you so dearly needed, or do you just do anything he says?” Andrew practically simpers. He’s not sure what makes him say it. Nicky makes another sound, but it sounds more on the horrified spectrum of guttural throat noises, and Aaron only tenses further.
Neil goes still against the doorframe, hand halfway back in his bag of popcorn. Andrew has his full attention now, and he feels it like a physical weight. Neil searches his person, seemingly from the top of his head to the soles of his “emo” boots, as Nicky would call them. Whatever he’s looking for, he seems to find it, and with a flash of something in his bright eyes, he straightens.
“You’re Andrew then.” he muses. It’s not a question, so Andrew doesn’t answer, only watches as the man pads closer. The bunny ears bounce with every step. Andrew feels his eye twitch. “I would have come with Wymack to meet you in August, but Kevin, the press can’t let me get five feet off of campus before they descend like the fucking vultures they are. And journalists make me…” he pauses, coming to a stop in front of Andrew. “... stabby.”
Andrew just arches a brow at him. “Must have been fate. Maybe I wouldn’t have come if I met your compelling personality.” he says, mostly to be a dick but a little to see what the beautiful man will say in response.
Neil hums, popping a kernel of popcorn into his mouth as he stares at Andrew. “I don’t believe in fate.”
Andrew crosses his arms, a paranoid voice whispering that Neil can hear his heart skip a beat every time he does something casually attractive, like flicking his tongue out over a full bottom lip.
“Luck then?”
“Only the bad sort.”
“We’re flattered by your high opinion of us.”
Neil grins at him, bafflingly delighted by Andrew’s assholery. He has a fucking dimple. Someone shoot Andrew in the head. And then pull the trigger at least five more times. Just to be sure.
He gets it now, what the redhead had been looking for, because he sees it now behind frosty blue eyes. There is darkness in him that calls to Andrews' own personal brand of shadows. Andrew looks into his eyes and recognizes he’s not the only killer in the room. Neil’s smile turns a little wryer, and the crinkles around his eyes seem to say. Yeah, I know you.
“What is happening right now?” Nicky squeaks out.
Just as he speaks, a voice booms from the corridor, breaking Neil’s concentration on Andrew’s face. “Neil!”
Neil rolls his eyes to the sky and seems to pray for patience for a moment before he turns to call over his shoulder. “In here Kev.” he turns back to return his eyes to Andrew (exactly where they belong- ) “I’m meeting your miracle goalie.”
He grins at the grimace Andrew makes, even though he is almost positive it was entirely internal.
Kevin Day storms into the room, hair still wet from a shower. “Neil, we need to talk about what you did wrong at practice- is that fucking popcorn?!”
Neil slaps Kevin’s hand away from his snack, holding it away from his body before the son of exy can make another grab for it.
“You know that is not part of your diet-!”
“ Your diet.” Neil corrects with a sneer. God, he’s pretty and sarcastic-
“And shouldn’t you be welcoming your new recruits?” Neil adds, jerking his head in the cousins’ direction. This has the added effect of making the damned bunny ears swing with the motion. If Andrew glares hard enough, maybe they’ll disintegrate, and he’ll never have to see them again. “They might realize you're more of an asshole than you pretend to be on TV.”
Kevin turns to look at the cousins, his jaw tightening. He straightens, shoulders back and nose tilted up. Full Kevin Day mode apparently.
“We’ve met.” Andrew deadpans before Kevin can get a word in, earning him an indignant look from the man himself. Neil seems amused by this, sending him a lazy smirk.
“Oh, so the cat is already out of the bag then.” he drawls, nudging Kevin sharply on the gut, ruining the man’s perfect posture.
“Well, I haven’t met him! I don’t think he actually met Aaron either.” Nicky pipes up, reminding Andrew that his family is still in the room. He pauses, seemingly waiting for Kevin or Neil to ask for their names or introduce themselves.
Neil shoves another handful of popcorn into his mouth. Kevin turns back to Andrew.
“I told you once that I would make you great, and you refused-”
“Probably because you brought that fuckwad with you.” Neil pipes in.
“- but it's still true. Neil and I,” Neil smiles a very sarcastic smile and wiggles his fingers in a cheeky wave at Andrew, who feels a tickle of amusement. “We can get you to Court, and you’ll never get there without us, so give me your game and-”
Andrew holds up a hand, stopping Kevin’s speech in its tracks. Kevin looks nearly enraged by this, his mouth still hanging open from when Andrew interrupted him mid-word. Neil is yet again unreasonably pleased by Andrew’s audacity, snickering at the look on Kevin’s face.
“I have no interest in going to Court.” Andrew says bluntly. “And I won’t be giving you anything. Not without anything in return.”
That seems to catch Neil’s attention. He blinks at Andrew and seems to consider the information even as Kevin splutters indignantly. He shifts his weight, which makes the muscles in his thighs bunch in all kinds of interesting ways.
He opens his mouth, but before he can speak, Matt comes into the room.
“Hey! You guys met the newbies!” he says. He trots up to Neil, smile mega-watt bright as he throws an arm over his shoulders. Neil leans into the touch.
“You're wearing the hoodie Allison got you.” he adds, lips twitching with barely stifled amusement.
Neil looks down at himself, pinching the hem of the fluffy hoodie, making it ride up on his legs. (God, Andrew can picture them around his head -)
“It's the most comfortable thing she’d ever bought for me.” he says, unashamed.
“You look fucking stupid.” Seth Gordon sneers from the doorway. The rest of the Foxes can be heard chattering in the hallway.
“No one fucking asked you Gordon.” Neil says sweetly, flipping the striker off without turning around. Seth scoffs and retreats into the hallway. Dan takes his place, smiling at the cousins warmly.
“Hey, we’re gonna have some drinks in our room, you guys want to join us?”
Andrew doesn’t want to drink with a group of strangers. He doesn’t want to socialize with a bunch of nosy college kids. But Nicky perks up at the idea. He sends a nervous glance at Andrew, but he looks hopeful.
Andrew glances at Matt’s track marks and then at Aaron. He can’t risk Aaron’s sobriety…
Matt catches his look and smiles sheepishly. “There won’t be any drugs, dude, promise. I’m one hundred percent sober.” He grins down at the redhead and ruffles his hair fondly. “Thanks to Neil here!”
Neil rolls his eyes and steps out of Matt’s reach. “Oh, please, that was all you. Mostly.” He peeks down into his popcorn bag before crumbling and tossing it into the tiny pink garbage can Nicky had set up in the corner of their dorm. He glances at Andrew. “There really won’t be any drugs though.”
Andrew stares back at him. There won’t be any drugs. Andrew can look at Neil and guess that he’s a liar. A good one, he’d bet, with a history of running from his mafia father. But he’d also bet that right now the redhead is telling the truth. So, no drugs. And a way to observe the Foxes and determine their threat risk.
Eyes as blue as two still lakes hold his gaze unflinchingly, and Andrew finds himself not wanting to look away.
He sighs. Somehow, he knows right then that this is going to be a long year.