Chapter Four
The Foxes
Neil heard his own pulse ringing in his ears as he followed Coach Wymack to the Foxhole court, each erratic beat of his heart in sync with his hurried footsteps on the paved road. He felt a sort of electrifying excitement bubbling under his skin. He'd been jittery through the whole process of enrollment at the university's main building. His sights were set on the scattered trinkets of the school's Exy team; on orange foam hands and cringe-worthy cheer quotes. It distracted him from reminiscing past experiences with schools and berating himself too much when old lies slipped.
Ever since he and his mother had been on the run, they had to makeup elaborate lies everywhere they went. Fake names, fake passports, fake lives… Neil has been there through and through, thanks to Mary's connections. The first few weeks, his mother had been keen on making it seem like some sort of vacation, but Neil was well aware of his father's tendencies at that age and was well aware that they were running for their lives. Her efforts didn't last anyway; all it took was a few close calls and all pretenses of fun were dropped. And then of course, one of those close calls had been too close and Neil was left spinning his own lies to explain why his parents weren't available. Lies were so engrained into him that he often found himself pondering where they ended and he began. He'd lied so often that he was becoming a lie.
So once he'd corrected himself and muttered 'Nathaniel', he only helplessly watched as the skeptic old woman erased the previous name, Neil Josten.
Exy was the only truth left in him. It was the only thing that made him a tangible entity- not names, not relations. And as his fingers hooked in the court's fence, as he rested his head against the cool surface of intercrossed metal, he felt it calling to him. Figures flit about in their gears, clashing now and then in the heat of the game. It made Neil's blood sing with anticipation. He could almost feel the smooth wood of a racquet under his fingers, feel it reverberate with the force of a hit.
"Kevin was right," Wymack muttered beside him, as if talking to himself. "There might be more to you than a pawn in the Moriyamas' game."
Kevin, Neil thought. The unsolved variable in the equation.
"There is," Neil replied. It felt like a promise.
Fortunately, they didn't stay long behind the fence and Neil was able to divert his clamoring excitement away from the practicing, orange-clad figures on the court. Wymack punched in a code -that Neil failed to catch- and soon, Neil was in the Foxes' quarter. The reality of it was sinking like a hole-punched raft in the middle of the Atlantic.
The first room was the lounge. One step in and Neil was bombarded with so much orange that he instantly missed the drabness of his life- the colorless, unnoticeable clothes; the empty-walled apartments. Neil had never given much notice to trivial things like color, but he was sure now that orange wouldn't be his answer to the customary question: what's your favorite color?
It seems Andrew had the same apprehension about color because he was dressed in all-black once again. This time in a more casual attire that consisted of a long-sleeved shirt and black jeans. His usual malicious vibe was gone and replaced with a blank look. From his spot on one of the large couches, he seemingly leeched out all the vibrancy of orange around them. Neil couldn't help but feel baffled at the sudden turn of moods.
"Little fucks!" Coach exclaimed, falling in step behind Neil. "How many times…" his beady eyes fixed on Kevin who was fretting over hiding a bottle between the cushions.
"Hand it over," Wymack growled, storming towards the lounging boys. Kevin sat up quickly and threw Andrew a helpless look; most likely in search for backup- he didn't even get a glance back. He must have gotten the hint because he sighed to himself and dug in between the cushions before holding out the half-empty bottle of amber liquid. From the force Wymack used to snatch the bottle, it was a wonder that Kevin's arm stayed intact.
The coach's mouth opened several times in an attempt to articulate his scorn in words, and managed to settle on a scowl at Andrew at last.
"I know you don't give two shits about Exy," He said. "But I could always take it out on your little group of leashed puppies."
Andrew glanced at the large, seething man calmly. The only sign he was even aware of his surrounding was the wistful look he gave the bottle of alcohol in Wymack's hands. Neil wished he could be as aloof; it was better than the helplessly terrified feeling that gripped his entire being and closed up his throat. The last time an older man had been furious like this, he'd almost lost his legs. His fluttery fingers itched to feel around his ankles, to feel the raised skin that always reminded him that Nathan hadn't gone through with his promised intent of cutting off his legs.
Neil forced himself to calm down, clenching his fingers in a fist tight enough that his nails dug into his palms. But his attempts were in vain really; no one paid him any attention. Wymack was stuck in a steadily failing attempt at threatening Andrew and Kevin was too busy visibly panicking over the threats like they were aimed at him- Neil guessed they might well be for all the obsession the dark-haired boy felt for Exy.
Finally, Wymack gave up on the one-sided stare down and spared the wide-eyed Kevin a silencing glance. "Shut up, Kevin."
Kevin, who was well into reciting an apology speech, gave a curt nod. "Yes, coach."
"Go get everybody. Practice ends early today." He cradled the bottle in his hands as he headed down a hallway towards, Neil assumed, his office. He watched with a receding, muffled panic as the older man disappeared, muttering something about his good bottle of whiskey.
Once Kevin's stumbling figure went in search for the foxes, Neil grew extra aware of the other boy in the room. He risked a glance and found that Andrew was watching him uninterestedly. His hazel eyes had dulled now that there wasn't a familiar spark of ill-will in them. There were dark circles under them. There was such a profound change in the way he held himself compared to earlier. Neil had a feeling that the alcohol might be the only thing keeping him from scattering.
"Couldn't you have asked one of your brutes to buy you some?" Neil asked abruptly, certain that he didn't need to elaborate. He was sure Andrew knew that he was referring to the bodyguards.
The blonde showed no sign that he even heard him as he moved to lay on the couch with his arms over his eyes. Neil turned away, sure that he would be ignored.
"They're not always there." Neil snapped his head to the laying figure, surprised with the calm tone. This might be the first time he heard Andrew Minyard be anything but malicious and infuriating.
Neil wasn't sure if this empty husk was any less threatening than the obnoxious, crazy demeanor, but he knew that the quiet intensity and dead feel to those eyes made a chill run down his spine. And that should've warranted some kind of caution, but somehow, Neil felt an urge to prod.
"Why?" his voice had softened as if out of fear that a wide smile would stretch Andrew's lips in that unnatural way.
"I don't want them to." Was the reply, said in such a simple manner that it almost assured Neil that there wasn't much more meaning behind those words. Almost.
Neil suddenly felt himself wondering things he hadn't given much thought to before. He had been so caught on reeling from the turn out of that day during the meeting that he hadn't even wondered about the whole story behind this boy he'd been wed to; did he really kill his own mother? Did he want to be head or was it handed to him through the line of power? Did Andrew even want to be part of any of this?
Neil opened his mouth, meaning to shoot a torrent of questions but unsure where to start and how to ask. He wasn't able to dwell on it much longer though; before he could gather his thoughts, a flurry of excited sounds echoed in the foyer, travelled through the halls and followed the rest of the foxes as they entered the lounge.
There was minimal media coverage on foxes as far as Neil had gathered from his habits of tracking Kevin Day. If there was any talk about them, it was on Wymack's ideals and intentions for gathering "misfits of all kind", it was to question the coach's sanity or to sympathize with him. After Kevin's transfer, it was on him solely, unrelated to his new team. There are also times when they would be praised for improvement and be deemed competition, but that sort of news had proved to be only brief. Some time or another during their finer moments, something would occur to further cement their bad name. Occurrences of misdemeanor, in most- if not all- cases.
After learning of his new position as their striker, though, Neil made it his job to scrounge up any information on them alongside Kevin. He wasn't able to learn much. There weren't even pictures. Andrew's doings, Neil assumed.
When Neil imagined meeting the foxes, he'd imagined shaking hands and exchanging names. He imagined formal introductions and an initiation that consisted of Wymack relaying rules and welcomes; he did not expect it to end in a short array of excited exclamations, comments and pats on the back.
Most of all, he did not imagine that Aaron Minyard was Andrew's twin. Neil's eyes snagged on him as soon as he entered. He felt dumb-founded as his eyes flit between the two brothers. He really wished there had been more to find out about this bunch before he'd come.
A tall, dark-haired boy with brown eyes was first to react to his presence, exclaiming, "Andrew, you didn't tell me how striking our new striker is" and preceding to cackle at his own joke as he reached to give Neil a one-armed hug and then- "Yeah, there's two of them unfortunately" after noticing Neil's baffled state. Andrew only stared blankly and Aaron flopped on a chair, not bothering with greetings.
"I'm Nicky," the boy continued, brown eyes flashing with apology, "Those two are my cousins." Neil didn't get a chance to ponder the accuracy of it, noting a significant difference in height as well as skin tone before the tall boy went off pointing and rattling everyone's name. Neil suddenly felt glad that he knew their names already and only had to put the faces to the names.
Dan was short-haired and energetic. She was the captain and rightfully so given the general, no-bullshit vibe she gave off. It reminded Neil a bit of Wymack's sturdy manner. Although, Danielle was warm and inviting where coach was unamiable.
"Haven't been on the court quite a while, I hear." She said as she approached him, "I expect you'll catch up, eh?" she slapped his back with a friendly smile still intact, but Neil could sense the threat behind it as well. He stumbled a bit, caught unawares with the force.
"Forgive Dan here," Matt smiled at him as he pulled Dan back to his side, "She usually doesn't have your balls until you're on the court." Dan gave him an unamused sneer before throwing her arms around his waist.
"Why are we avoiding the obvious here?" Allison said suddenly. She looked the most out of place, with her legs crossed primly like her orange gear wasn't soaked in sweat. If Neil hadn't known better, he'd question her position as defensive dealer in such a violent sport. But some of the strongest people he knew were women.
"I didn't even know arranged marriages were still a thing," She snorted.
"Me neither," Neil threw back. Everyone's eyes turned to him, burning with questions.
"Yes, we're married," Neil spat, not without some difficulty. Aaron's eyes widened before he threw a curious glance at his brother. Neil felt defensive over the increasingly heavy stares. "Any problems?" he challenged. Matt and Dan looked at each other. Allison smiled haughtily from beside the hazy-eyed Kevin. Renee smiled at him encouragingly from where she was sitting quietly. Nicky burst out into hysterical laughter and then abruptly stopped when he noticed that no one was following.
"Shit, Andrew," he cleared his throat. "I thought you were joking."
***Author's Note***
So I wanted to clear out a few things- Neil doesn't know much about the foxes beforehand because Andrew makes sure to keep them out of spotlight. There is indeed little information about them outside of their games and matches (in which they are increasingly becoming noticed) and that's why Neil, although aware of all their names including Aaron's, was aware that Andrew had a brother but wasn't aware that he was his twin.
Next chapter: Late-night practice with Kevin (Andrew's there, duh), a small fact about his husband revealed to Neil and a confrontation that happens as the day comes to an end and rooms are under discussion...
