neil doesn’t cry
like ever
tortured? nope
kidnapped? either
you name it, he doesn’t
and neither does andrew
that is why andrew after his last game at palmetto didn’t know how to react
for the last match of the season all the upperclassmen went to watch the game and at the end after the foxes fourth consecutive, and for andrew last, victory they all rushed onto the field to celebrate
after the usual shaking hands with the opposite team, some celebration with the crowd and an unusual refusal from neil to do press duties, they all file back in the changing room to get ready for their night in columbia
at that moment they had already finished the game a good hour ago, they were all showered and ready but still in the stadium because neil still had to get out of the locker room
but since neil abram josten is famous for his fast plays, his smart mouth and a fucking gigantic red target on his back that says ‘hurt me’, and the last time he took too long to get ready he actually received a phone call informing him he was about to get kidnapped, andrew felt the urge to go check on him
it didn’t take long for andrew to notice no one in sight, it took him even less to hear the muffled sobs coming from the showers
and that was unexpected
they would have known if there was someone else other than neil in the changing room since they were waiting right outside the only existing entrance
so he quickly ruled out the option of neil being attacked
the only other option was that he got seriously hurt during the game and that for some absurd reason andrew didn’t notice, so when said that andrew bolted toward the sound it was not an understatement
he was there, fully clothed and washed, crunched on the floor, hands covering his face and at the same time trying to muffle the sounds
there was no blood in sight, which made andrew tick the first point off of his mental list
he called neils name to let him know he was there, since he gave no sign of noticing, and quickly crouched on the ground in front of him, hands trying to unfold all of neil’s limbs to tick all the other points, no blood, no bruises, no articulation twisted in opposite direction and no sign of pain when his hands grabbed
neil was a little taken aback by the sudden presence of somebody else, but quickly recovered when noticing what andrew was looking for
‘i’m fine’ the murderous glace andrew shot him made him elaborate further on his condition ‘i’m not hurt’
regardless andrew finished his inspection, he lied no trust in this man when talking about his well being
being satisfied with finding nothing he finally raised his eyes to meet neil’s stare, the ‘what’s going on’ was implied
‘I-‘ neil lost his words, he was not used to all this display of emotions, and the irrational reasoning behind it ‘I don’t want it to end’
all andrew could manage was a sigh, all the retorts about his exy hyperfixation dying in his throat. he didn’t need neil to further explain, if the end of university almost affected andrew, he could only imagine how hard it must have been on neil. he was the youngest of the original foxes, and although the new foxes were alright, the bond that the original nine had was incomparable
the foxes were neil’s first, and only, family, he agreed to die, instead of running away just to keep playing with them
andrews thumb gently brushed neil’s cheek to get all the tears streaming down, which apparently just had the least desired effect, because it just made neil cry harder
andrew gently grabbed neil’s neck and pulled his face in the crook of his neck, neil was not late to grip his arms around andrew