FUCK YOU GUYS I AM MAKING AN EXECUTIVE DECISION HERE WITH THIS AU
Neil is only gone for a couple hours before the team starts to worry. It takes Andrew longer, but he’s content to wait. Everybody is in a panic but Andrew seems unfazed by the disappearance, doesn’t act in any way out of the ordinary. If he’s angry or hurt by Neil leaving, no one is the wiser.
A day passes and worry turns to something a little more panicked. Kevin is freaking out about the upcoming game without their starting striker. Dan is pissed that Andrew must have done something to Neil to send him away. Nicky is an emotional mess, convinced Neil is hurt somewhere alone.
It’s Allison who finally snaps and confronts Andrew after the third day, with Renee behind her playing mediator.
“You need to get Neil,” she says, staring down at him on the bench during water break.
Andrew’s grip tightens on his racquet but he looks impassive. “I’m not his keeper.”
“The fuck you aren’t!” Allison snaps.
“You did promise you’d look after him, Andrew,” Renee says gently, but her expression is neutral, unreadable.
Andrew huffs, crumpling up his paper water cup before dropping it in the trash.
“Wymack wont blame you because he thinks it’s none of his business but the rest of us do. You spend the most time with him. You did something.” Allison is barely holding back on shouting at this point, the only thing keeping her back probably some agreement she’d come to with Renee.
Andrew looks out at the court where Kevin is talking with Wymack. “He’ll be back. He can’t stay away from this stupid game much longer,” is all he says before leaving to listen in on Kevin and Wymack’s conversation.
Except Neil doesn’t come back. For the first time since joining the team, Neil misses a match. Kevin is livid. Wymack isn’t much better. In fact the whole team is on edge. Andrew’s used to being disliked but the animosity is getting a little annoying. Even Aaron makes a comment that whatever his problem is with Neil is becoming an irritation.
That Saturday, Andrew calls Neil. Unsurprisingly, he phone is dead. Andrew’s jaw clenches, feeling the first twinge of anger. Sunday, he calls again. Still nothing. Monday, during practice he hits balls at his teammates heads until Wymack throws him off the court. He uses the free time to make what he swears is one last call.
It rings five times before the call is picked up. Andrew’s heart drops to his gut in a peculiar feeling his is unfamiliar with.
Neil doesn’t say anything but Andrew can hear his tense breath through the line.
“It’s time for you to come home,” Andrew growls.
Neil is quiet for a long time. “I’m not coming back,” Neil murmurs.
“Yes, you are,” Andrew says, like it’s the easiest thing in the world. And why shouldn’t it be?
“I’m not –” Neil cuts himself off, pauses, seams to redirect his train of thought. Andrew can almost imagine the way he’s hunching over himself, one arm crossed over his gut clutching his shirt. Carefully, he says, “I can’t trust you any more.”
Andrew feels his pulse in his ear. Oh. Oh he’s not happy with this at all. It’s too risky to speak, so he doesn’t. Just waits.
Neil takes that as response enough. He lets out a low breath. “I told you those things in confidence. It was never part of the deal for your to tell anyone else. Not without asking me.”
Andrew’s anger peaks. He grinds his teeth, squeezing his racquet. “So it’s okay for you to shove Aaron and me at Bee to fix our problems? But when I do it –”
Neil interrupts him, voice rising. “You listen to Bee. You actually trust Bee!”
Andrew scoffs, tossing his racquet into a forgotten corner of the locker room. “There is no reason for you not to trust Bee. She wants to help you.”
“There are plenty of reasons for me not to trust her,” Neil snaps defensively.
“Then what would you have me do? You were falling apart!”
“I don’t know,” Neil yelps helplessly. “I don’t know. You could have… you could have just talked to me first?”
“So you could feed me some ‘I’m fine’ bullshit? I know you. I’m not stupid. You wouldn’t have talked to me. You wouldn’t have listened.”
“That doesn’t mean you force Bee on me. I’m not you. I cant just –” Neil cuts himself off with a strangled noise of frustration.
“You were a ticking time bomb,” Andrew says slowly. Clearly. He will make Neil understand. But not like this. It’s too difficult to talk through the phone. “Where are you? I’m coming to get you.”
Neil doesn’t say anything. Andrew wonders for a moment if he’s been hung up on but finally Neil asks, “Do you even care that you betrayed me? Betrayed my trust?”
That makes Andrew stop. Betrayal is a heavy accusation. One Andrew had sworn himself against. Andrew is nothing if not a man of loyalty. It’s the only promise he’s ever made to himself. It takes him a long time to lowers himself onto the bench by the lockers, elbows going to his knees. “You think I betrayed you?”
“It’s not what I think,” Neil bites, less bitter than Andrew was expecting. Only hurt. “It’s what you did.”
“I know you don’t care if you hurt me. But I never thought you would throw me to the wolves like that,” Neil says, voice choked.
Andrew chews the inside of his mouth, dragging a hand down his face. “Neil, tell me where you are. Let me come and get you.”
“You can’t. You can’t,” Neil moans. “You can’t fix this.”
“Let me try!” For the first time, Andrew raises his voice. He’d almost forgotten he can get that loud.
Another long bought of silence before Neil whispers, “I miss you.”
“Then let me bring you home,” Andrew says quickly. “Where are you?”
Neil chokes out, “Atlanta? I have a flight for Kansas City in six hours.”
Fury paints everything red for a few blinding seconds before Andrew pulls himself back together enough to grit out, “Cancel it. I’ll take the next flight out. Stay right where you are.”
Neil’s voice is weak when he murmurs, “Promise me I don’t have to see her anymore.”
Bargaining is something Andrew can work with. It’s easier to handle bargains and promises than emotions. “Work through your shit then. Find someone to help you. I don’t care who.”
Everything Neil does has a minute long delay. Finally, though, Andrew hears Neil’s nod even though he can’t see it. The rustling of his ear scrapping on the phone’s mic. “’Kay.”
Andrew is already pulling his practice jersey over his head when Neil says, “I’ll wait for you.”
Andrew changes back into his street clothes before he goes to find Wymack and tell him where he’s headed and borrow money for a flight. Wymack lets Nicky out to drive him to the airport, and he’s the last passenger to board the 6:55 flight to Atlanta. The first flight he’s taken on his own. The first time he’s had too much on his mind to be afraid when the plane takes off.
As soon as the plane lands, he’s booting up his phone again, calling Neil. “Where are you?” he asks as soon as the call goes through.
“There’s an outlet by the bathroom above the shuttle stop in terminal D,” Neil says. “What terminal are you in?”
But Andrew can already see his auburn hair and wide blue eyes in flashes between the crowd and he’s shouldering through the crowd before he can stop himself. Neil yelps when Andrew grabs him by the back of the neck, pulling them together so their foreheads touch.
Still on the line, Andrew squeezes his eyes shut and speaks into the phone. “150%.”
Neil lets out a crazed noise that’s between a laugh and a sob.
