Chapter Text
"They could have utilized Moreau!" Kevin shouted from his position on the couch. Neil agreed with him, but Kevin was far too loud and Neil was far too hungover. Andrew seemed to share the same sentiment because he shifted away from Neil to grab one of the throw pillows behind him to send flying into Kevin's throat. Judging by Kevin's startled noise, it was a very accurate throw. "I'm just saying." He mumbled, but Andrew ignored him. The pillow was tossed to the floor, and Katelyn made an indignant noise from her perch at the kitchen bar.
Neil tried to focus on the game. The Trojans were playing, and in 2 weeks they would go head to head against the Foxes. However, Andrew's hand was on his thigh, and that meant all rational thoughts and desire to watch Exy were both slowly going out the window.
"I don't see why we're worried." Nicky gestured to the screen. "They're not doing too great."
"We're not anymore." Kevin scoffed. He took a sip of his drink for dramatic effect. "They don't know how to utilize Moreau." He glanced down at Andrew and Neil, who were sitting side by side on the floor in front of the couch. "As long as some of us take the game seriously, then we won't lose."
Both Neil and Andrew ignored Kevin, but a smile carved Neil's face. He knew exactly what Kevin was referring to. Three weeks ago, after practice, Kevin walked into the locker room to find Andrew and Neil in a rather compromising position. After screeching about "respecting the court" (Which was Neil's best guess on what was said), Kevin hurried out of the locker room and didn't bring it up again, until right this very moment.
Aaron coughed, visibly uncomfortable with where the conversation seemed to be going. Nicky glanced over at his cousin with a frown on his face. The comment about Andrew and Neil didn't seem to have landed. "Are you okay, Aaron?" He asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine." Aaron waved his hand in the air, dismissing Nicky's concern immediately.
"Poodle?" Nicky asked. To which Aaron gave an incredibly confused and annoyed look.
"Excuse me?"
"It's an honesty thing!" Nicky said. "Whenever someone says their fine and you want to make sure if they're okay, they say poodle! If the person answers with poodle, then they're telling the truth." At this point, Exy has been turned down and everyone is staring at Nicky.
"What happens if they don't say poodle back?" Katelyn asks.
"Then they're lying, and we have to unpack that. Make sure everything is okay." Nicky looked around at the rest of the group.
Neil pushed Andrew's hand off of him to fully turn around and face Nicky. "What if I say another dog breed back. Like
a german shepherd?"
"Yorkshire terrier," Aaron says, grinning from ear to ear. Nicky looks over at Aaron, astounded. The first time Aaron and Neil are joking around together and it's at his expense.
"Golden retriever?" Kevin adds to the conversation.
"No! The same rules apply if you don't say poodle back!" Nicky throws his hands in the air, exasperated. "Additionally, if you say poodle and you're lying, then we have to unpack all of that too."
"That is by far the dumbest fucking thing I've ever heard in my entire life," Andrew said. Neil looked over at Andrew and laid a hand on his shoulder.
"Poodle?" He asked, then immediately cringed. "Oh, I hate it." Andrew agreed with Neil because he shoved Neil away immediately.
"It's not that bad!" Nicky protested. He walked into the kitchen to put his glass in the sink. "I think it's a great idea to employ! We're a team, we should be able to talk about our feelings!"
"No. We should be able to take out our feelings on other people. On the court." Andrew scoffed. He stood up and walked over to Nicky. "Say that again and I'll stab you." Nicky backed against the counter and held up his hands in surrender. The kitchen in Aaron's and Katelyn's apartment was incredibly small and so Nicky couldn't avoid Andrew in any way.
"Fine! I won't! I just think it's a nice idea!" This is met by the chorus of everyone in the room disagreeing with Nicky immediately. "Okay! Okay! Quit!" Nicky finally shouts. He slides past Andrew with difficulty and sits next to Kevin on the couch. "Oh, hey, the game is over."
Kevin turns his attention back to the TV to see that the game is officially over. The Trojans won. "How did they make that comeback? This is terrible. We have to watch the game again." He fishes for the remote in the sides of the couch. "Where did the remote go?"
"Wait, you guys are planning on watching the entirety of the game? Again?"
"The Trojans made a remarkable comeback. We need to know how they did it so they can't do that to us." Kevin looked at Katelyn like her question was ridiculous. Neil saw Katelyn and Aaron exchange a look, but he didn't comment on anything. Instead, he stood up. He stretched, both arms over his head, when he felt a pop in his shoulder. Neil was good at masking pain, but for a brief moment, it was clearly visible on his face. He took a deep breath and let his arm fall back down to his side as naturally as it could.
"As much as I want to watch the game again. I don't. I'll see you at practice tomorrow." Neil patted his pockets with the arm that didn't have little needles of pain stabbing it, to make sure that he didn't have a reason to come back to Aaron's apartment. Andrew followed him out of the apartment. Once the pair was out in the hallway, Andrew grabbed Neil's arm, which Neil immediately wrenched out of his grasp.
"What the fuck Josten?" Andrew asked. He didn't grab Neil again, but it was clear that Neil couldn't have gotten away without answering the question even if he wanted to.
"I'm fine." He said automatically. Not even thinking about it. That's how Neil felt; the pain in his arm was starting to evaporate, and it wasn't even the worst pain he had been through. Not by a long shot.
Andrew studied him with a blank expression on his face. "Poodle?" He asked innocently. The effect of the word made Neil immediately cringe.
"Fuck off." He said. They started walking towards Andrew's car. "I can't believe someone came up with that," Neil added as an afterthought. "Honestly, I'd stop saying I'm fine altogether if that was the response it got every time." Andrew got a weird look on his face, but didn't say anything at all. He did make a mental note of what Neil had said for future use. Neil, on the other hand, hadn't realized the ammunition that information was.