Possible deviation from the canon. Also, possible spoilers.
A story if Neil decided to run away before the Moriyama family took him...
It was an ordinary spring day. When everyone went their separate ways, Matt went to his mother, taking Dan and Renee with him. Eric managed to find some time and came to Columbia to see Nicky and the twins. Neil stayed behind at Foxhole. Almost no one was left, only a few students, those who, like him, hadn't left for summer break.
Neil walked towards the exit onto the field. The locker room smelled of chlorine and some other cleaning agent: someone was still cleaning here, even though the field was barely used during the holidays.
Although they had made it to the championship finals, Neil knew his death was not far off. But he couldn't anymore; after he ran into Riko at Evermore, Neil was afraid to go to the police. So he simply decided to run away, like he always had...
Jogging around the stands a bit, the redhead remembered how everything here used to erupt with the roar of the fans, how Kevin would jump on him for a poorly hit ball. He remembered how Dan, leaving the field, would ruffle his hair while laughing joyfully with Matt. Neil had already made peace with the thought that he wouldn't be in Palmetto anymore, that at first his friends would be sad and they'd rack their brains over where he'd disappeared to. Then they'd decide he ran away... They'd come to dislike him, and then, forgetting him like an ordinary person who had fleetingly appeared in their lives, they would forget him... He hadn't let go of this thought for several months. Over time, the feeling of pain dulled. He got used to it. He accepted his choice.
But then, amidst the usual thoughts about the players, memories of Andrew surfaced in his mind... Of his Andrew...
Yes... No matter how much he tried to distance himself from Minyard, he still couldn't push away thoughts of him... Of their first kiss on the roof, which you could only get to after sufficiently tormenting the door and lock, it would open. Neil remembered how he first hated Andrew, how he'd fed him cracker dust. Neil's breath caught: he didn't know that the hardest thing would be disappearing from his "sociopath's" life. Josten felt for the car keys that Andrew had given Neil. Abram shook his head to throw the blonde out of his thoughts.
Night. The last night in Palmetto. The last night as a Fox...
No!.. Even when he runs away, he'll remain a Fox! He'll remain Neil Josten!
Descending the stands, where he'd spent almost the entire day, Neil, just as he was approaching the exit from the field, saw several silhouettes in the darkness. He didn't recognize them immediately, only when they approached him almost point-blank... They were Ravens. He remembered a few of them: they were often near Riko. Just like now...
After Neil was forcefully dragged into the locker room, they slammed his head against the wall. His head began to split, and then, through the silence, a familiar voice rang out, painfully familiar... It was Riko's voice.
โ Nathaniel Wesninski! โ he drawled through his teeth.
Someone hit Neil in the ribs, causing him to double over. Riko stepped closer.
โ You know, the master said your stubbornness killed any desire he had to take you on the team. And he gave you to me, and I thought that just letting you go would be too simple!
Neil's breath caught. He guessed what Moriyama meant, and confirmed his suspicions when they beat him half to death. When it was over, all the Ravens quickly left the locker room. All except Riko. He stayed, leaning over Neil, who was already almost unconscious. Moriyama said:
โ Just being beaten would have been too simple for you.
Neil was just beginning to comprehend Riko's words when a sharp pain pierced him. The pain was familiar: his father had used knives on his son more than once. But this pain was deeper. It reached all the way to his lungs. It spread heat throughout his body. Riko had stabbed Josten with a knife. And then he left. Leaving him in the dark... Alone.
The twins, along with Nicky, were at Eden's Twilight when Andrew's phone rang. Flipping open his clamshell and pressing a few buttons, the small screen displayed the caller's name: "Runner." That's what Neil was saved as in Andrew's phone. Answering the call, all he heard were the words:
โ Earth... This is Jupiter, are you awake?... not asleep yet? โ that was the only thing Neil could manage to say through the blood in his mouth.
But Andrew knew: this was the signal. Back in winter, he and the redhead had come up with one like that, a sort of signal. When Abram was in mortal danger, he was supposed to call Andrew and say those words.
Andrew, hearing them, shot up from his spot and immediately rushed to the car. He was in such a hurry that he forgot Aaron and Nicky at Eden's Twilight and drove off from there. Or rather, sped off. He pressed the pedal to the metal, ignoring traffic lights and the honks of indignation from other drivers. He hurried as fast as he could, he hoped he would make it...
Arriving at Foxhole, Andrew jumped out of the car, not even thinking about where he'd left it. On his way to the stadium, where Neil was supposed to be, since it was his favorite place, Andrew heard the sound of an engine. It was Wymack's car; Nicky must have called him.
Bursting into the locker room, the blonde saw Neil right by the entrance to the field. He ran over, crouching next to his Runner. He couldn't tell if he was alive or dead, but from Neil's hand, which was clutching the keys Andrew had given him, he knew there was still hope.
Minyard was jolted from his thoughts by a squeak from Abby. She stood frozen.
โ What are you standing there for?! โ he shouted at her. Abby snapped out of it.
Approaching Neil, she pressed her fingers to the pulse on Josten's neck.
โ His heart is still beating. Weakly, but... โ Abby turned to Wymack, who had already called an ambulance. โ I don't know...
Abigail didn't have time to finish before Andrew grabbed her by her top.
โ What else don't you know?! You have to save him! โ Minyard's voice held anger, but behind it a note of worry slipped through.
โ Andrew! โ Wymack snapped. He walked over and easily pulled the blonde off Winfield. โ Calm down!
Minyard burned his gaze into Abby, who was trying to somehow help Neil. He was distracted from this by a frightened whimper from Nicky. He was holding his hands to his mouth and, abruptly recoiling, hit his back against a locker.
When the ambulance arrived, it immediately took Neil to the hospital. Abby went with them. And Wymack, along with Andrew, drove separately.
A few days later, Neil woke up. Looking around at the ceiling, he realized he wasn't dead and was currently lying in a hospital. He regretted it a little, but that note of regret instantly evaporated when his blue eyes saw Andrew sleeping nearby.
โ You're awake. Thank god! โ said Nicky, who had apparently entered and saw Neil turning his head. โ Andrew left the room maybe twice, but came right back... No matter how much we tried, he stayed by your side all these three days...
โ How long?.. โ Neil said, his voice raspy, and started coughing.
โ You were unconscious for three days, Neil! โ Hemmick said. โ I was starting to get scared that you... well... wouldn't wake up...
Just then, Wymack entered the room. Probably, such a number of people in the room reached Andrew on an energetic level, and he woke up. First, the blonde turned around and looked at Nicky and the coach. Then he turned sharply to Neil.
They looked at each other, it seemed, for an eternity...
A month later, Josten was discharged. He was happier than the others, as he could no longer stand being away from the stadium, away from exy...
After that incident, something had changed between him and Andrew. Everyone noticed it, but no one dared to ask about it โ neither Neil, and certainly not Andrew.
