Archive of Our Own

Making US court was a goal unattainable to Nathaniel Wesninski.

Nathaniel Wesninski was born into a family of crime. Nathaniel Wesninski was raised by a serial killer with the expectation that he'd follow in his footsteps. Nathaniel Wesninski had been born with knives in his hands and a future filled with bloodshed, and even after running for so long blood and violence was still all he could see for himself. Nathaniel Wesninski was a child trapped by the weight of a legacy that wasn't his, and who was only alive through fear and necessity.

Neil Josten, however, was different.

Neil was originally no more than a mask, a new face for Nathaniel to wear while he was continuing to flee the red pools from his past. But, over time, the Foxes had taken the small parts of Nathaniel that were allowed to remain and pieced them back together. Filled in the missing gaps with laughter and joy, made a person out of new memories and the fragments of a boy who knew he had no reason to live.

Neil Josten became real, and now Neil Josten had made US court. A boy who never really existed before he turned eighteen had made it further than most Exy Athletes could have ever dreamed.

For the first time in his life, he was really, truly proud of himself.

It had been a few months now since he'd first joined the team formally. He'd known a few players before, courtesy of two of them being fellow foxes and his good friends, and some people who he'd played against in collegiate exy before, but a lot of them were completely new people. After getting the awkward parts out of the way (mostly questions about his father and his past) and settling in properly, Neil found he didn't actually hate his new team. They weren't The Foxes, but they would work, and he decided he probably could be happy here.

Now he'd settled in fully, his days were full of hard practice and some fun banter, and a strange comradery between the best Exy players the US had to offer. Most of the time.

"Kevin," Jean began, complaining loudly from the back of the car (Neil almost missed when he was too scared to complain), "Why must you bring me and my boyfriend along to your foolish night practices?"

Jean was sat in the back with Kevin, Jeremy sat between them so the pair didn't start throwing hands like they sometimes did. Neil was shotgun, mostly because he wasn't allowed to drive after the Foxes had discovered he'd never had formal driving lessons and had rather just picked up what he could on the run, but partly just because people thought putting him in gun related positions was funny. Andrew was driving, seeing as it was only him and Jeremy who were allowed to drive and Andrew would also throw hands if sat in the back with Kevin and Jean.

They were also all the best players on the US court, in case anyone was wondering.

"Because Exy waits for no one." Kevin responded, looking out the window as they drove. "Just because you're court now doesn't mean that you can just give up on your practices."

"Day practices are more than enough you dumb leprechaun." Jean huffed, leaning over Jeremy to look at him better.

"Not if you want to be the best."

Jean groaned. "I don't need to be the best. I need to sleep."

"A foolish attitude. You've played better with less sleep."

"Kevin, I'm going to fight you."

"I have an interview tomorrow. If you need to beat someone up then fight Neil." Kevin deadpanned.

"Please don't." Neil responded, probably a bit too quickly. "My parents both beat me enough to last a lifetime."

Jeremy sighed, "Neil."

Neil grinned, "What? It's true."

"Doesn't mean you should joke about it." Jeremy mumbled.

Andrew groaned loudly. "If you all don't shut up I'm ramming this car into the next vehicle I see."

"No Andrew not again!" Neil joked, ignoring the way his boyfriend kicked his leg playfully. "We've talked about this."

"Do I want to know?" Jeremy asked.

"Nope." Kevin said.

"No." Andrew muttered.

Neil shook his head. "Absolutely not."

Jeremy sighed again. "Then forget I asked."

They pulled up outside Castle Evermore a few minutes later, miraculously without any casualties, and used the key that Kevin had gotten using his nepo baby privileges to get inside. Back when they'd first started coming to Castle Evermore for night practices the group hadn't gotten much work done, as Kevin and Jean both had too bad a relationship with the place to work effectively, but seeing as it was the US court's official Exy facility it was the only one they had access to, so the pair got over it in favour of playing.

Andrew walked over to one on the benches as soon as they were inside and took a seat, looking just as bored and uninterested as ever. The other four put on various states of Exy equipment (none of them could be asked to put everything on, so they put on what they thought they'd need and left the rest), before heading onto court.

"I hardly think it's fair to have three strikers and one backliner." Jean was saying to Kevin as Neil walked in.

Kevin glared at him. "It's not like we're playing a full game, it's drills. You'll manage."

"Get the feral blonde goalkeeper to play." Jean said, testing the net in his racquet.

"If I could get Andrew to do anything I'd be living a much easier life."

Jeremy walked over to Neil, laughing softly at the pair of ex-ravens. "They argue like siblings." He commented, handing Neil his own racquet after he'd agreed to carry it in.

Neil took it with a nod of thanks. "They do. It's cute."

"Isn't it just?" Jeremy agreed. "It's nice to see Jean actually enjoying himself, even if he'd never admit it. When we first met I thought he'd never understand what happiness felt like, he was just always so depressed. Look at how far they've both come."

Neil chuckled. "Bold of you to assume Kevin ever enjoys himself."

Jeremy grinned. "I think he does. I just don't think you bring it out of him."

"Wow. Jeremy you wound me."

Jeremy had been a strange character when Neil had first met him. He'd known him before court, and they'd held a few conversations, but he'd never really had a proper heart to heart with the Trojan Captain back when they were collegiate. When they first met properly, Neil had thought him far too sunny and enthusiastic, with his only redeeming feature being that he made Jean happy. Since then he'd grown on Neil, and now they were good friends who teased and bantered when playing together.

And they played together quite often. The pair were often sent on together for their complementary playstyles, and often started the second half together. They'd long since grown used to each other's company.

"You can't keep everyone happy." Jeremy told him, "The fact that you've managed to tame Andrew is a feat in itself."

Neil shook his head. "Andrew is a softy deep down. He just pretends not to be."

"I heard that!" Andrew shouted from his bench, where he was now lying down and staring at the ceiling.

Neil pouted. "Sorry Drew. Am I ruining your tough guy reputation?"

"Don't test me, Josten."

"Or what?" Neil asked, his voice laced with a teasing excitement.

Jean threw a ball at his head, causing Jeremy to cackle so hard he nearly fell over, while Jean screamed, "Stop flirting and get a room."

"Later." Kevin added. "Exy first."

The four of them practiced drills for a while, starting with some basic shots and ending with some footwork practice, before starting to pack up. They were at it for at least three hours, and while even Kevin looked exhausted, Neil was still standing perfectly fine, running around the court to collect any stray balls and turn off the lights, before bolting back into the locker room and walking over to Andrew.

"I forgot how insane he is." Jeremy mumbled. "What is wrong with him?"

Jean shrugged from where he had already showered and dressed, happily watching his boyfriend get changed while they conversed about everything and nothing at the same time.

"At first I thought it was the stamina from playing whole games back in the day," Jeremy continued, realising Jean wasn't going to comment, "But Kevin did that too and he's exhausted. I know he was the fastest striker in Class one exy, but still..."

"That feral cockroach has too many problems for it to be narrowed down to one thing." Jean told him, picking up both his and Jeremy's bag when Jeremy finished changing. "Trying to would be pointless."

"You think it's related to his past?" Jeremy asked, walking with him to where they agreed to meet the other three in the foyer.

"Like I said, too many problems." Jean responded. "Don't waste your time trying to figure it out. According to Renee, the Foxes once asked him to run on a treadmill at his top speed and his response was that the treadmill was too slow."

"You're joking." Jeremy said.

Jean shrugged. "Ask him yourself later."

The pair arrived at the foyer and realised they were the first back, which was to be expected. Jean had always changed rather quickly, now more out of habit than any remaining fear of water, and Jeremy had started speeding up his own changing to spend more time with Jean. The other three weren't particularly slow either, but they tended to waste time threatening each other while putting clothes on, or insulting each other's performance on the court to finish as quickly.

Jeremy looked at the clock, doing some quick mental maths to figure out how long they had, before turning to Jean and saying in French, "Any ideas on how to kill some time?"

Jean's pupils dilated slightly. "A couple." He responded, grinning at the use of his home language. "How about you?"

Jeremy smirked, taking a step closer to his boyfriend and wrapping his arms around his shoulders. "A few."

Jean looked down at his lips. "Jeremy..."

Jeremy whined softly. "God, I love it when you say my name."

Jean chuckled. "I know you do. That's why I do it so often, Jeremy."

"Oh what the fuck!" Neil shouted, having apparently changed quicker than expected. Jeremy and Jean turned around to see Neil standing in the door, Andrew next to him, and Kevin just behind them, who now had his eyes covered by Neil's hand.

"Not in front of Kevin!" Neil shouted, although he was clearly joking, "We can't let him see displays of homosexuality, it might just be enough to sway him."

"Oh of course." Jean agreed with a faux seriousness. "We can't have Mr 'it's easier to remain heterosexual' see real gay people. My mistake."

Neil nodded dramatically, taking his hand of Kevin's eyes and patting his shoulder with fake sympathy. "There there Kevin, it's okay. The gays have stopped gaying."

Kevin glared at him, shoving him away with a playful push. "Shut up Josten."

"I know that must have been really hard for you to see."

"Neil, I've heard you and Andrew doing...things more times than I can count." Kevin told him, already walking away.

Andrew just grinned. "Bet you wish that was you."

Kevin flipped him off as he left through the front door and headed back towards the car. The other four waited for a moment, before following, ensuring to lock the door behind them.

"So, Neil." Jeremy began, taking Jean's hand. "What's your fastest speed on a treadmill?"

Neil shrugged. "The top one I assume? I've never tried."

Jeremy looked at Jean, who just shrugged. "Why not?" Jeremy asked, "I thought someone like you would love a treadmill?"

"Maybe." Neil agreed, "but every treadmill I've tried is too slow."

Jeremy's eyes widened, and Andrew smirked. "Most treadmills at top speeds do a five minute mile. Neil can do a four minute mile. The treadmill is quite literally too slow."

Jeremy nodded slowly. "Right. Of course. Because that's normal."

Neil shrugged, stopping as they reached the car. "It's not that big a deal. I don't see why everyone is always so surprised."

"You should see him do the FitnessGram pacer test." Andrew said, his voice filled with a subtle pride. Even if he was generally hard to read, Jeremy could tell he was proud of his boyfriend.

"Do I want to know?" Jeremy asked, getting into the car next to Kevin.

"He said, and I quote 'That's it?' when it was done." Andrew told him, "Then, he asked if he could do it again."

Kevin sighed. "Is this Neil and the Pacer test?"

Andrew nodded. "Yep."

Jeremy looked at Neil. "What the actual fuck is wrong with you."

"You made sunshine boy swear, how do you feel, rabbit?" Andrew asked, turning his key into its place and starting up the car.

"I did harder runs than that stupid test when I was five. You're all just slow." Neil told them.

"Before the conversation continues." Andrew interrupted, "We're detouring to the store to get ice cream."

Kevin sat up instantly. "No we're fucking not."

Andrew barely even glanced at him. "You don't have to eat it. It's for Neil and I, and Jeremy if he wants-"

"I do." Jeremy agreed, ignoring how Jean glared at him.

"You're on a diet." Kevin told him, "You can't just go eat ice cream whenever."

"I have never been on a diet, Kevin, you just claim I am. I'll eat whatever I want, so suck it up."

"You're poisoning yourself." Kevin responded.

Andrew nodded. "Hopefully it works."

Neil looked up at the sky and mouthed ‘please’ dramatically. Andrew kicked him once more.

"Jeremy, you can't be agreeing to this." Jean huffed, taking his boyfriend's chin in his hands to force eye contact.

Jeremy smiled, "Come on Jean, what's the harm?"

"First Laila and her poisonous bubble drinks, now you and Ice cream. Next thing you know Catalina's going to abandon me as well."

"It's fine at least we have each other, Jean." Kevin said.

Jean looked traumatised. "I'd rather have literally anyone else."

To nobody's surprise, hands were thrown on the way back.