Chapter Text
Neil Josten was interesting, and he was easy on the eyes too. The mysterious athlete always attracted attention wherever he went. People always came up to him to introduce themselves — not just girls, but guys. Not that anyone could really blame them, though Aaron certainly did, often saying that Neil looked like a burnt pepperoni, or more often, a chewed-up carrot. Everyone just told Aaron to shut up.
Red hair and blue eyes, short stature, scars, and, as Nicky and Matt loved to say, "incredible charisma" — that's what Neil was made of, at least according to the Foxes. According to Andrew, it was recklessness, provocation, bravery, sharp observation, and mystery — plus, give or take, a certain naivety about life that Minyard would probably call plain stupidity.
Neil never considered himself attractive, but the rest of the team definitely convinced him he wasn't ugly. Otherwise, people wouldn’t flock to him like bees to honey. More than once, baristas wrote their names and numbers on his coffee cup. Maybe that would've annoyed Andrew, but Neil just kept returning the order, claiming they’d given him someone else’s drink, leaving the baristas red-faced and flustered — and, as Andrew would say, it was stupid, but it worked in his favor.
When situations were more obvious, and someone openly flirted with Neil, he would always bombard them with questions: "Why do you need my name?", "What do you need my number for?", "Trying to get to know me better? Are you a cop or something?" The Foxes kept trying to explain things to him, but Andrew found it endlessly amusing. Eventually, he just started saying, "Sorry, I’m not available," or, "I already have someone." And usually, that was enough to make people back off.
Until that one time, when they met him.
It was the end of Neil’s second year, and a lot had happened in that time — new Foxes, new adjustments. But his family was by his side, and Neil felt like he was managing. Even the girls' graduation, which had been bothering him, didn’t seem so terrible anymore. They had already made a list of holidays and spring and summer breaks to spend together, and that made it easier for him to handle the thought of part of his family going their separate ways.
***
"What are we even doing here?" Aaron said nervously. "Why the hell are we at some dumb university bonfire party?" He had to raise his voice for the last part so that his brother, Neil, and Kevin could hear him over the growing crowd.
"Stop whining, Aaron," Nicky, who was leading the group and dragging the rest along, shot back. "We’ll leave as soon as I say goodbye to my friend."
The bonfire party was a farewell for the students who were about to graduate. Somewhere nearby were also the Senior Foxes, as well as Nicky’s friend, with whom he had shared a lot of classes and wanted to see off properly.
"God, there’s a freaking sea of people here!" Nicky complained, pushing through the crowd as he tried to make a path.
Because of the surge of people, Neil, who had been walking at the back, started to drift away. Andrew quickly grabbed his wrist and pulled him closer.
"Damn it, I can't see anything but people’s backs," Neil said, quickening his pace to avoid getting left behind again.
"At least you’re looking at their backs," Nicky turned his head toward Neil, "Aaron and Andrew are getting nothing but asses," he cackled, clapping Aaron on the shoulder.
"Shut the hell up, you idiot!" Aaron hissed. Andrew, standing a little behind his brother, couldn’t immediately smack Nicky—his one hand was still holding onto Neil, and he didn’t have the reach to grab the knives strapped to his arms. Instead, he pulled his keys from his pocket and jabbed Nicky in the side with them as close as he could manage.
"Ow!" Nicky yelped. "Okay, okay, fair enough, I deserved that. Kevin, do you see them?"
Kevin, who had been looking at everything from above, snapped out of his daze and looked around. His eyes stopped when he saw a familiar face.
"Yeah, at 10 o'clock, it’s the girls and Matt." He pointed, and everyone started heading in that direction, finally managing to escape the crowd of students and their backs and asses.
"Guys, you finally made it!" Matt greeted them, giving Aaron and Neil high fives.
"This is a nightmare. How are there so many students? Are they all graduating?" Alison smoothed her messy hair, making it clear they had been through a worse crowd. "Is it okay?" she asked the nearest person standing next to her about her hairstyle.
"No, there’s a knot right here," Kevin said, starting to smooth it down.
"No, get your hands off," Alison swatted Kevin’s hand away when he tried to flatten her tangled hair. "It’ll make it worse. They need to be brushed out."
"Nicky, you're supposed to meet your friend here, right?" Réné asked, carefully adjusting her skirt.
"Yeah, Trace. We’re in the same major, and we’d go to allies parties together a lot. He’s graduating, and it looks like we won’t get another chance to say goodbye."
"Oh, here he’s calling." Nicky held the phone to his ear. "Yeah, I’m here, just north of the big bonfire, you see me?"
While Nicky was explaining to his friend where they were, Dan was telling Neil a bit about the captain's duties. Andrew was talking about something with Réné, Matt was telling Aaron about a new game he had bought, and Kevin was laughing as Alison, trying to brush out a knot, ended up pulling out a chunk of hair.
"Nicky!!" A voice called from the crowd.
"Trace!" Nicky waved his hand, calling him over.
Trace was a dark-skinned guy, with curly dark hair and a height just above Neil’s. He wore a Hawaiian shirt and a t-shirt with the words "Born this Way" on it.
He definitely looked like Nicky's friend, all the Foxes thought.
"Nicky, I’m so glad to see you!" The guy hugged Nicky. "Thanks for agreeing to meet, or I would’ve left without saying goodbye. How could I do that to my fellow gay soul?"
At that, Aaron grimaced and muttered through gritted teeth, looking at Matt, "What the hell is he saying?"
Matt, trying not to laugh, cupped his hand over his mouth and pretended to cough.
"Come on, how many years have we been friends?" Nicky smiled in response. "Oh, by the way, meet my friends."
Nicky started pointing to everyone standing nearby. "This is Allie, Réné, Dan, Matt, over there is Kevin, my cousins Aaron and Andrew," he said, pointing to the brothers. "And the cutie Neil."
Trace’s eyes scanned everyone Nicky pointed to, giving them a light nod, but when it came to Neil, Trace stopped and stood frozen.
"Wow," he finally said after a minute of staring at Neil, "I’ve never seen such a beautiful guy." He blurted out without hesitation. "Your eyes are like the ocean, did you know that?" he asked Neil. Everyone around them, including Nicky, was in complete shock. The first to realize what was said was Alison, who, following Matt’s example, tried to hide her smile with her fist.
"A-a-ehm," Neil stammered. "What? Sorry?"
"Oh, sorry, I just couldn’t hold myself back. I’ve never seen such beauty, it’s like something out of an art book." At those words, Dan scrunched her face and looked at Matt, who began coughing even more.
"You’ve probably heard this a lot, but you, Neil, you look like a raging fire and water at the same time. You’re like yin and yang, like calm and passion…"
"Hey, hold on," Nicky interrupted. "Dude, what the hell are you saying?"
"Nicky, why didn’t you introduce us sooner? This must be fate," Trace took a step closer to Neil and said, "Neil, would you do me the honor of having dinner with me, right now? I know a great place…"
"No" Neil said firmly.
"But why? Don’t you feel the connection between us?" Trace crossed his arms and took another step toward Neil.
But Andrew stepped in front of him. "He said no," Andrew’s voice sounded calm and monotonous, as always. But Neil could immediately tell that he was irritated.
"And besides," added Alison, "how can you make such an offer to someone who’s been holding hands with their boyfriend ?"
When everyone looked at the hands between Neil and Andrew, they realized they hadn’t let go of each other’s hands since they’d exited the crowd of students.
Trace stared at their hands for a long time, shifting his gaze from Neil to Andrew and back. Then, sighing, he pulled a scrap of paper from his pocket, wrote something on it, and handed it to Neil.
"This is my number. If you ever change your mind, call me, Neil." With one last glance at Andrew, he walked away.
Andrew, with his usual calm and nonchalant expression, took the paper from Neil’s hands and threw it into the nearest trash can.
Everyone was still in shock. Nicky slapped his forehead and whispered, "Oh my god, how embarrassing, what an idiot."
"As we heard, your gay soulmate," Aaron said, causing everyone to laugh.
"Ugh, this is a nightmare, Neil, I’m sorry, I didn’t think it would go like this," Nicky said, his cheeks burning with embarrassment.
"It’s alright, Nicky, you’ve said stranger things," Neil replied, making Nicky groan with even more embarrassment.
"Maybe we should go have a drink and forget about this idiot?" Kevin suggested, and everyone agreed, Nicky the most enthusiastically.
Andrew tugged on Neil’s sleeve, "Let’s get out of here, Yin and Yang."
"Ugh! Shut up," Neil mumbled.
***
About a week had passed since the meeting with Trace, and neither Neil nor Nicky wanted to see him ever again.
The team was returning from their last practice. It wasn’t necessary, since their last game had been two weeks ago, but Kevin insisted, and then Neil "asked," and no one could refuse. Even the new Foxes participated.
On her last day as captain, Dan suggested they go eat the famous hot dogs that were sold at the main campus.
Neil and Alison bought hot dogs for everyone, and they all sat on the grass, discussing their summer plans. The newcomers would go back to their homes, the girls were talking about where they were going, and everyone was sharing their plans.
Everything was calm until Neil noticed that Aaron was staring at the same spot, squinting as if trying to make something out. Then his face changed. Neil never thought he would see Aaron with such an expression on his face. Aaron burst into hysterical laughter, and all the Foxes turned their gaze to him. He just kept laughing.
It was strange for Neil. He had never imagined he would see Aaron laugh so much that his face transformed into something Neil wouldn't recognize. I wonder if Andrew would look the same?
Andrew looked at his brother in confusion, and not just him, but all the Foxes. Alison looked in the direction Aaron was staring and started laughing hysterically as well, followed by Matt, Dan, and, to his surprise, even Kevin. Nicky also raised his head in that direction to satisfy his curiosity, but he looked more shocked. He covered his face with his hands and lowered his head, muttering, "Santa Maria, my God."
Neil and Andrew exchanged glances and together looked at the source of the universal hysteria.
"What the hell?" they said in unison.
At the other end of the alley, leaning against a tree in the shade, stood Trace. His dark face was smeared with something white, resembling foundation, but very pale in color. His curls were nowhere to be seen; they had been straightened and bleached, but not evenly. The roots had a terrible yellowish tint, and his hair looked unkempt, as if gel had been used to try and tame the unruly locks. His eyes were lined with black eyeliner on the lower lash line, and he wore a black T-shirt, black jeans with chains, and, of course, black wristbands on his arms.
Trace hunched over and approached the group, saying:
"Neil, I've been thinking a little bit," Trace emphasized the word little, and his tone of speech was so deliberately monotonous that it set off a new wave of hysteria among the Foxes. "I realized that you're not all that great and definitely not my type. I'm usually friendly with people I meet, but in reality, I'm not as nice as I may seem."
"Alright," Neil said.
Alison leaned against Kevin from laughing, although Kevin himself was already gasping for air from laughter. Dan was lying on Matt. Rene held herself together until the very last moment, probably out of respect for Andrew, but she was struggling as much as she could.
"So," Trace continued, "don't call me." He took a cigarette from his pocket, lit it, and after one puff, he started coughing. At this point, no one could hold back anymore. Not Nicky, and even Rene. " don't be sad about my rejection, Neil," Trace added one last time and walked away.
Neil doesn’t know what Andrew was thinking at that moment, but in the evening, when they were sitting and smoking on the roof, Neil laughed—not as hysterically as the foxes, but only in the evening was he able to find something funny about what had happened. And although Andrew didn’t say anything about it, Neil knew that he also wasn’t indifferent to the absurdity of the situation.
This story became a regular feature at every Thanksgiving and Christmas that the foxes spent together.
About Andrew’s copycat