Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

‘Hello?’ Stuart’s raspy voice spoke through the phone call.

‘Hi uncle’ Neil answered, trying to keep himself steady.

‘Neil? Are you okay, what happened?’

‘I’m fine, don’t worry.’

‘Well, what is going on then?’

‘Someone just tried to shot me.’

There was a pause.

‘What?’ Stuart chocked out, the anxiety in his voice visible now. The man never showed his emotions much, always keeping his thoughts to himself, but when it came to his nephew, especially relating his mafia connections, he could get as stressed as Wymack when one specific player of his was on press duty, as Neil had noticed. It was nice to know that someone from his family cared and was not trying to kill him, for a change.

‘Where are you? How did this happened?’ his uncle demanded now.

‘South California, by the USC court. I went outside for a minute before the match and got attacked by some dudes. I think they might be what is left of my father’s people, that’s why I’m calling you.’ he explained.

Neil heard a sigh on the other side of the call. He felt mildly guilty for bothering Stuart about this, but if he called the FBI, as he probably should, they would take him straight for interrogation. He could not leave right now, as the match with the USC team was about to start.

‘I’m coming. I will take care of this.’ he heard Stuart say. ‘Get inside, tell your friends about it and stay safe until I get it done, okay?’

‘Yeah, yeah, we are going to be fine. Thank you.’

His uncle ended the call before he could add anything else.

Well, in that case, one of his problems was gone. However, there was another one. Technically, he hadn’t lied to his uncle. He had said that he was fine, not that he hadn’t gotten hurt. Which he had.

Neil stood against the court wall, clutching his side desperately in attempt to stop the bleeding. He had managed to run away, but one bullet had hit him straight in the stomach.

He breather heavily, trying to gather his racing thoughts. The bullet hadn’t bruised his lungs, that was for sure, if it had he would have started chocking and coughing blood by now. It couldn’t have hit his liver either, he would have passed out from blood loss. And it must have missed the heart, or he would have been lying dead. So, technically speaking, he was fine. The crucial internal organs were untouched, so he should probably be able to play.

It hurt like hell though. The pain stabbing pain seamed to spread all over his body, as if it were a poison in his veins. His legs and his arms were shaking terribly, he felt as it the pain blinded him, overcoming all the other senses.

Also, there was the blood. Fortunately he had not gotten changed yet, so he would not have to play in a blood-stained t-shirt. But stopping this bleeding for the next ninety minutes was not going to be easy, as his hand was already fully covered in a dark, thick liquid. The blood was closer to black than it was to red, which was actually good because it meant that it wasn’t coming from an artery and that he was not going to bleed out to death. However, it did not change the fact that the bullet was still in him.

Neil inhaled, slowly, forcing himself to stand up straight. He obviously should not be playing in such state, but it was their first match with Trojans since Jean’s transfer and they had all been waiting for this. Even Jean had seemed to be happy when Neil had called him the day before and that was not an every day thing. He was not going to ruin it for all of them. They had already dealt with his problems enough the previous year. And he was going to tell them, just not before the match. What was the worst that could happen after all?

He shut his eyes and forced himself to walk back inside the court. Every step hurt unbelievably, but if he was going to do this for the next ninety minutes, he had no choice but to ignore it.

Fortunately he had taken his bag with him when he went for a smoke. He could head straight for the bathroom and change before going back to his team.

Neil closed the bathroom door behind him and collapsed on the floor, breathing heavily. He gave himself a few seconds before standing up again. He found a first aid kit on one of the shelves and, with his hands still shaking uncontrollably, he patched himself up the best he could. He put a thick layer of gauze and bandage on the wound, hoping it would control the bleeding at least for the first half.

Reaching for his bag, he winced as he saw it had been ripped by a stray bullet on one side. He was going to need a new bag, he thought, but it was not on the list of his top worries at the moment.

He changed into his orange clothes, the pain making it extremely difficult to simply put on a t-shirt. He swallowed a few painkillers that he had found in his bag before heading out to meet his team.

He was going to be fine.

‘Neil, good, you are here’ Wymack said, the moment Neil entered the meeting room. ‘We go out in five minutes. I could probably run through the strategy one more time but I feel like it’s useless because you are not going to listen anyway.’

‘Right you are, coach’ Nicky agreed, sitting by the door, bouncing his leg in excitement.

‘Remember, this is a friendly match’ Wymack continued. ‘It does count for the season, yes, but we have not lost against any team this year, so I don’t want you to go all in if someone was to get hurt. This is a rematch for the last season, USC playing with their full potential this time. This is going to be a fair play and I will accept no violence on the court, understood?’

Wymack’s voice sounded as if he was far away. Neil caught maybe half the words, trying to stop his hands from shaking, concentrating on anything but the soaring pain.

He felt Andrew’s eyes on him. The boy stood against the opposite wall, watching Neil carefully, paying absolutely zero attention to the coach’s words. When his eyes met Neil’s, he raised his eyebrows questioningly.

‘I’m fine’ Neil mouthed soundlessly. That seemed to piss Andrew off. Wrong move, he supposed.

Neil noticed Kevin looking between them in confusion. He opened his mouth to ask a question, but then Allison showed him something on her phone.

‘What is this’ Kevin’s brows furrowed.

‘It’s a meme, Kevin’ she explained.

‘Why am I in it’ he more stated than asked, clear disappointment in his voice.

‘Because you have fans, Kevin. That means you have memes.’

He was quiet for a second, staring at the screen. ‘I don’t understand this meme.’

‘Of course you don’t.’ Allison scoffed.

‘Kevin is the kind of friend you have to explain memes to’ Nicky interrupted.

‘Are you done?’ asked Wymack. ‘Great. We are going out, now.’

The foxes gathered the racquets and made their way for the door. As almost everyone walked out, Andrew grabbed Neil by his sleeve.

‘What’s going on?’ he asked in a low voice.

‘Nothing’ Neil answered. ‘I’m fi- I’m alright, really.’

‘Neil.’ the boy insisted. He glared right at him, his grasp firm and his eyes serious.

‘I’m..’ Neil sighed. ‘I think I might be getting sick. I feel a bit ill.’ he lied smoothly. He felt bad, lying to his partner, but he was not going to give up this match. He could have sworn even Andrew was kind of looking forward to it.

‘Why haven’t you told the coach then?’

‘I really want to play today’ he said, this time truthfully. ‘And so does everyone. And he would probably take me off court.’

Andrew said nothing, his gaze still settled on Neil.

‘Okay, I will skip training this week if it gets bad.’ Neil reasoned. ‘I’m just excited to play against Trojans. I just want to stay for this one. Nothing’s gonna happen for two hours.’

Andrew sighed. ‘Fine’ he looked away. ‘But I’m telling Kevin after this. He will not let you on the court for weeks.’

Neil smiled slightly. ‘Are you worried about me? That’s sweet.’

‘Shut up.’ he said. ‘Of course I am.’ he added after a second.

‘Hey, lovebirds!’ Matt called after them. ‘I hope you are not making out right now, because we have a match to play.’

‘Coming!’ Neil called back. Andrew eyed him one last time and turned to leave, his partner following right after him.

He. Was. Going. To. Be. Fine. He thought, clutching his side to stop the pain.

The crowd roared as they entered the court. The good thing about playing on the USC court was that the fans, just like the players, stopped themselves from screaming insults any given second.

Neil spotted Jean among the Trojans, standing side by side with their captain. Their eyes met for a moment. Neil waved and Jean answered with a smile.

The teams’ introductions went quicker than he had expected. Neil took his position seconds before the start. He gritted his teeth and dig his nails into his palm, desperately trying to ignore the burning pain in his side. He glanced down to make sure he was not bleeding through his t-shirt. It was still perfectly clear.

He heard the sound informing that the match had started.

The moment Neil moved his legs again he almost collapsed. He tightened his grip on the racquet and forced himself to run forward.

He had been shot before in his life so this kind of pain was not new to him. But he had never played Exy with a bullet in his stomach before. If anyone asked, it was not something he would recommend.

But he kept playing. Jean was not on the court for the first half, so he didn’t need to play on his full potential. His opponent was strong, but not as strong as Jean or any of the foxes he had played against during training.

His body moved on its own by now. Once he had started running it wasn’t that difficult to keep it up. However, breathing was getting progressively harder. The only thought that appeared in his mind was that it hurt.

Kevin stood the closest to him, as they played on the same position. He must have noticed something was wrong, because he was currently staring right at Neil, visibly worried. The boy just shrugged in response and went back to the game.

Neil didn’t even notice when the break was announced. The score was five to four for the Trojans. The second half was going to be more difficult, as USC kept the best players for the last. But he had made it for forty five minutes already, he could make it for another forty five.

‘Neil-’ Kevin started the moment the door closed behind them.

‘Wait’ he said between his breaths. ‘Just give me a minute, I’ll be right back.’

He went straight to the bathroom before anyone could protest.

Neil took of his t-shirt and then, slowly, the bandage.

There was a lot of blood. The whole thing was stained with it and Neil could make out the metallic smell.

His head was spinning. He took some steady breaths and started applying a new bandage on the wound. He briefly wondered if the cleaning staff was going to ask questions about the blood as he threw the old bandage into the bin. Well, that was going to be after the match so it didn’t matter.

When Neil returned to his team, all the foxes turned to him with worried expressions. Kevin stopped the conversation with his dad and Andrew stood up straighter, looking extremely annoyed.

‘Neil’ Wymack started. ‘What the fuck is going on?’

‘Wha- What do you mean, coach?’ he asked. Neil pressed his back against the wall to keep himself from collapsing and forced his hands to stay still.

‘Are you injured?’ Kevin said, staring at him as if trying to find a visible wound.

‘No. No, I’m not.’ he lied. ‘Why would you think that?’

‘Neil, you’re..’ Matt started, concerned. ‘You’re really pale, your hands keep shaking and we can see you can barely stand up!’

Neil gritted his teeth and looked at the ground. ‘I’m fine. We don’t have time for this right now.’

Wymack winced. ‘This is not a discussion, kid. Tell me what is wrong.’

‘Nothing. Look, can we talk about this after the match? This is really not a good moment.’

‘Neil, are you sure you can even play?’ Dan asked, doubtful.

‘Of course I can’ he answered. He sighed, as the foxes waited for a further explanation. ‘Just a private situation. I’ll tell you everything when we’re done, okay?’

Wymack watched him for a few seconds and finally nodded slowly. ‘Okay. But if you feel like you can’t play, you let me know straight away, got it?’

‘Yes, coach’ he said, sighing in relief.

‘But, dad, he shouldn’t-’ Kevin objected.

‘I know. I am not happy about this either. But if we keep arguing we’re just going to waste time and achieve nothing.’

‘Coach, can I call you dad too?’ Nicky asked.

‘Absolutely not.’

‘How about “Dave” then?’

‘No.’

Neil zoned out as Nicky and Wymack argued. He could almost physically feel the blood draining from his body. His head was spinning harder by now. And it still hurt.

Jean and Jeremy entered the court for the second half. The crowd cheered and every camera seemed to be fixed on them, especially the former raven.

Neil took his position right in front of Jean. He did not have enough energy to smile or wave, so he just stood numbly until the match started.

The backliner focused his concerned gaze on Neil.

‘Are you okay?’ he whispered.

‘Yeah. All good.’ Neil muttered. It reminded him of his days in the Nest. He pushed the thought away. He didn’t want to think about it now.

The game started again.

It kind of seemed like he was playing through a fog. His vision was blurry and the sounds were muffled, he felt detached from reality. Like the moment before falling asleep, being on the verge of consciousness, not fully controlling the thoughts.

Then, suddenly, the pain stopped.

Neil felt panic rising in him. He felt nothing on his injured side, as if his body belonged to someone else. He should probably be happy that he wasn’t hurting anymore, but the pain meant that he was alive. Now that it was gone, it felt wrong. Something was really wrong.

Kevin passed the ball to him. Neil tried to keep his racquet still to take it, but his arms refused to listen. He dropped the racquet and collapsed on the ground.

Someone caught him before he could fall. Neil felt Jean’s arms around him and clutched to him with one hand to keep himself steady, pressing the other to his side. His knees hit the ground.

‘Neil? Neil, what is-’ Jean stopped the moment Neil raised his other hand. It was covered with blood.

‘Shit’ the striker muttered.

Kevin was by their side in seconds. He didn’t have his racquet, must have abandoned it somewhere on the court. He never leaves it anywhere. Why did he? What happened? Oh, right, I fainted. I have to keep playing, though. Neil thought. His mind was not working well, his thoughts were messy.

‘What’s wrong?’ he heard Kevin say in a panicked voice.

‘I- I don’t know, he just fell and he’s- Neil, look at me, what happened?’ Jean urged.

What did happen? He got shot, he remembered.

‘I got shot’ he said. Wait, why did he say that? They weren’t supposed to know.

‘What?’ Jean whispered, his face pale.

‘Don’t tell anyone, though. I have to keep.. playing.’ Neil added.

Someone was yelling from the other side of the court. Neil could still hear Kevin speaking something very quickly, to him or to someone else, he didn’t know, when his vision went dark.

Chapter Text

Kevin knew something was not right. Of course he did, it was kind of obvious. What he had expected though, was that Neil was either badly sick or really upset about something that he didn’t want them to know about.

Which was exactly the reason Kevin felt his heart stopping the moment Neil fell down and did not get up.

This was not supposed to happen. Neil always got up, just the previous year Kevin had witnessed him go through every possible kind of hell, get kicked down by every possible tragedy, and yet still stand up and keep going.

Neil collapsed and Jean caught him, supporting his weight and carefully letting him fall on his knees. The moment Kevin got a glimpse of Jean’s white face and his eyes widened in a horrified expression, he immediately understood that something must have been very wrong.

He dropped his racquet barely registering the sound as it fell on the ground. Kevin rushed to them just in time to see the blood smudged on Neil’s shaking hand. Something twisted in his stomach on the sight.

‘What’s wrong?’ Kevin asked immediately. He winced, hearing the visible panic in his voice and forced himself to stay relatively calm.

‘I- I don’t know, he just fell and he’s- Neil, look at me, what happened?’ Jean pressed, equally stressed.

‘I got shot’ Neil muttered, barley keeping his eyes open.

“What.” Kevin thought.

‘What?’ Jean asked.

‘Don’t tell anyone, though. I have to keep.. playing.’ Neil whispered. His hand fell by his side as he lost control of his body and passed out.

Kevin stared at him, frozen.

This was.. not a satisfying explanation. In fact, this was not any explanation at all, because it was simply impossible that Neil had actually gotten shot. It was impossible that he had played with a shot wound and it was impossible that he had decided to keep it to himself. Even Neil wasn’t that stupid, right?

He must have meant to say something else, the injury must have messed with his mind before he had passed out.

Kevin looked at Jean, who stared back at him, equally desperate for any kind of confirmation that their friend was not going to bleed out. He was still clutching Neil’s sleeve as he lied unconscious in his arms.

Kevin only shook his head, unable to speak a word. This was not right, it can’t have been right.

The game had stopped, obviously, but Kevin hadn’t been registering anything else than the boys in front of him for the past minute. The medics were already rushing to them, so they must have realized that their player was badly injured.

He and Jean were asked to step back. Kevin turned and saw his foxes crowded by his side, trying to get to the medics, understand what had happened or see if Neil was alright. He didn’t know when they had gotten here and abandoned their positions, but it was obvious that they would because a fox was down.

‘Kevin’ he heard Dan’s voice, visibly struggling to hold the panic in. ‘What’s with him?’

Kevin looked at Jean, who only stared at the ground with a blank expression. He followed his gaze and saw singular drops of blood exactly where Neil had fallen.

‘I don’t know’ he whispered.

‘He told you something’ Andrew stepped in front on him, covering the sight. ‘I saw he did. What. Happened. Don’t make me choke it out of you again, Day.’

Kevin met his eyes. Something was different. He recognized the hardly restrained fury that occasionally made an appearance when it came to Andrew, as well as the familiar venom in his voice. But there was something new in the way his eyes had widened and his nails dug into his arms, and, after a second, Kevin realized what it was and felt his heart drop.

Andrew was scared. He was scared because he had just gotten Neil back from Baltimore and he didn’t want to leave his side again. Seeing him like this somehow made it feel more real for Kevin. He looked around his team and took a steadying breath to calm himself.

‘Let’s get off the court’ he said. ‘We can’t do anything anyway, and the game is stopped, at least for now. We will talk somewhere else.’

The foxes nodded hesitantly, one by one. As they made their way back, the reporters seemed desperate to learn their opinion and predictions about their player’s contusion, but Allison kindly asked them to fuck off before anyone could answer. Wymack joined them, having talked to the referees and informed them that the game is stopped until further notice. He did not ask questions, not until they all made it back to the meeting room in which they took the break some minutes ago.

Kevin felt guilty for leaving Jean to himself on the court, but there was nothing he could have done to help him, no reassurance he could have given him. He has his own team now, he reminded himself. A team that won’t kick him down for simply caring about his friend, but will stay with him and share a part of his worry.

‘What did he say, Kevin?’ his dad asked the moment the door closed behind them. At least Wymack managed to stay calm somehow, probably used to his players bleeding out every once in a while.

‘That he..’ Kevin swallowed. ‘He said that he had gotten shot.’

The room went silent. He felt the foxes’ eyes on him, trying to comprehend what they had just heard.

‘Wha- What?’ Matt whispered in shock. He seemed straight up horrified, while Dan’s brows furrowed in anger.

‘Bullshit!’ she spat. ‘This- It’s not- People don’t just randomly get shot!’

‘He was with us the whole time and it couldn’t have happened before the match, you can’t play with a shot wound’ Aaron tried to reason.

‘Of course not’ Kevin agreed. Maybe he was just desperate to believe that it wasn’t true but he was ready to take in any explanation that did not involve his striker bleeding to death. ‘He was barely conscious, he must have been talking nonsense..’

‘But’ Nicky said slowly, his face going pale. ‘He did kind of press his hand to his side the whole time didn’t he? And he- oh, god, he.. He was shaking and clearly something hurt him during the break, what if..’

‘No, that’s fucking crazy, he wouldn’t have..’ Allison interrupted.

‘He went out before the match’ Matt said quietly. ‘He said he was just going for a smoke for two minutes, but he was gone for longer than that.’

‘But’ Aaron objected. ‘That would mean that this whole time he played with..’

They went quiet, a horrible possibility suddenly seeming a lot more real than it had a few seconds ago.

‘He.. He would have told us if he was hurt, right?’ Nicky asked desperately.

‘It’s Neil’ Kevin whispered, looking down. ‘Of course he wouldn’t.’

No one spoke for a few seconds, the heavy truth falling on them.

Wymack sighed and covered his face with his hands. ‘This. Fucking. Kid’ he groaned against his palms.

Kevin looked at Andrew. The whole time he had been listening to their arguing, numbly staring at the ground. His face showed nothing now.

‘Listen, kids’ The coach continued after a while. ‘We don’t know what happened and we’re not gonna assume anything until we talk to Neil or the doctors. I think it’s obvious we’re not playing right now, even if they resume the game’ He looked around the players, who all nodded in confirmation. ‘I’m going to the hospital right now, I’ll let you know what’s going on as soon as I learn anything.’

‘I’m going with you’ Kevin and Andrew said at the same time. They looked at each other but made no comment. In any other circumstances someone would have probably laughed.

‘I think all of us are going’ Matt added. ‘There’s no way we’re going to the hotel right now.’

‘Alright’ Wymack agreed, seeing there was no use in arguing. ‘Dan, can you talk to the Trojans? Tell them as much as you think they should know, also that we can’t go back on the court. If they insist, just tell them that we give up.’

‘Will do’ Dan said. She sent them one last worried look and left the meeting room. Andrew took his own and Neil’s bags and left as well, without a word.

The bus ride took maybe fifteen minutes, but it seemed like the longest one in Kevin’s life. He kept bouncing his leg and fidgeting with the material of his t-shirt. He felt his heart beating too fast, even though it had been long since he had gotten off the court and stopped playing.

The moment Wymack parked the bus on the hospital parking lot, Andrew opened the door and rushed out, leaving his bag on the seat. The foxes looked at each other hesitantly, but eventually followed.

Kevin stayed behind with his dad and he paid for the parking ticket. They didn’t talk until Wymack turned the engine off, pocketed his keys and stood up.

‘Kevin?’ the coach started before they left the bus.

‘Yes?’ he replied, not looking up. Neil’s bag was gone, Andrew must have taken it with him but left his own. Kevin picked it up from the seat.

‘I’m sorry.’ Wymack said.

Kevin raised his head. ‘What?’

‘I shouldn’t have let him back on the court. You saw something was not right, we all did, and I still let him back. I want to apologize for this.’

‘Oh.’ he replied. He didn’t really know what else to say. Never in his life had he thought that an adult would apologize to him. Well, technically, he was an adult now. He didn’t feel so though, not as he struggled to slow his heartbeat, praying that his friend was okay.

‘We’re all scared, Kevin’ the coach continued. ‘I can see you are too. Just.. Fuck.’ he muttered, and now Kevin could see how tired he really was. ‘I am terrible at this. Just talk to me if you need to, alright?’

He nodded. In his opinion his dad was doing a great job actually. Or maybe he just thought so because the only comparison he had were Kengo Moriyama and Nathan fucking Wesninski.

They waited in the hospital hall waiting for any kind of information for what felt like hours. Matt kept pacing around, Allison yelled at him to stop at some point, Nicky was asking every passing doctor, nurse, and sometimes even patients if they knew anything about Neil Josten’s condition. Andrew sat against the wall, holding his knees to his chest, staring at the ground with a blank expression.

Kevin took out his phone and saw twenty four missed phone calls. Nine of them were from Jean and the rest from Jeremy. Or maybe it was also Jean, just from Jeremy’s phone. He didn’t trust his voice but he also didn’t want to leave them without any information again.

“We’re at the hospital. Still don’t know anything” he texted Jean. That was not any information at all, but it was probably better than nothing.

‘Aaron’ Andrew’s voice broke him out from his thoughts. The boy was still sitting in the same position, now staring at his brother. Aaron looked up questioningly. ‘Tell me honestly. If he actually got shot and played for about an hour with the wound, is he going to make it?’

Horrible silence fell among them. Somehow the thought that Neil might die from the injury hadn’t crossed Kevin’s mind, not even once. Last year he had spent months getting used to the thought that he was going to lose Neil eventually, but then, after Baltimore, he didn’t have to anymore. Neil was supposed to live and it was all supposed to be over. He just couldn’t die now from a stupid thing like that. It was unfair on so many levels.

But if what he had said was true, if it was actually a shot wound, then it was likely enough to kill. Kevin felt his head spinning. He didn’t want to think about that.

‘Well..’ Aaron muttered. ‘Normally, he would, he didn’t pass out immediately so it couldn’t have been that serious. But..’ he hesitated.

‘But what?’ Nicky asked, a trace of fear visible in his voice.

‘He.. He moved around a lot and he must have lost so much blood..’ Aaron looked away. The “enough to bleed him out to death” was left unspoken.

Andrew didn’t move. He only kept staring at one point somewhere on the wall and breathing. Breathing too fast.

Oh. Fuck.

‘Andrew?’ Nicky said, moving closer to his cousin.

Kevin stood up and walked over to them. ‘Move. Sorry.’ he told Nicky. ‘Step back.’

As Nicky backed away, Kevin kneeled in front of Andrew and slowly put his hand on his friend’s neck. He had done it too many times for him. The least he could do was return the favour.

‘Andrew. Breathe.’ he said quietly.

‘Fuck off, Kevin’ he choked out between gasps, but didn’t push his hand away, so Kevin stayed with him and waited until his breaths steadied.

Andrew put his head between his knees. His shoulders shook and only a few seconds later did Kevin realize why.

He was crying. Silently, clearly trying to muffle his emotions as he always had, but his eyes shined with tears and his body kept shaking.

‘Andrew, are- are you.. oh, god..’ Nicky whispered, horrified.

Kevin felt all the foxes staring at them, and he honestly couldn’t blame them. Ever since they had met Andrew they perceived him as a sort of psychopath, unable to care or feel emotions. Only when they had understood why he was the way he was, they had started feeling more sympathy towards him. Still, even after he had gotten off his meds he had been distant and closed towards everyone and it was easy to forget that he was a human, just like all of them.

Yet there he was, sobbing in the hospital hall because his lover was bleeding out a few rooms away and he was not ready to lose him.

Kevin remained with him until he went still again. Then Andrew pushed his hand away without a word and leaned his body against the wall. He stared at Neil’s bag on the ground in front of him with reddened, absent eyes.

No one made any comment or asked any questions, fortunately. Maybe until now they hadn’t understood how serious the situation was. Kevin certainly hadn’t.

He was going to yell at Neil for hours when he woke up. He just really hoped it was gonna happen.

Chapter Text

They waited in the hospital hall for any information about Neil for hours and all the foxes refused to leave. It was to be expected from Andrew, Kevin, Matt or Nicky, who seemed to be the closest to him, but what surprised Wymack was that even Aaron, who openly hated Neil since their first season, did not think of leaving even once. Maybe he shouldn’t have been surprised after all. No matter what the foxes thought of each other, if one of them was down, the rest would stay by his side until he managed to get up.

Matt and Dan were dozing off by the wall, leaning on each other’s shoulders, probably just as much for moral support as for physical one. Nicky, even though his eyes were closed, was clearly awake, constantly changing his position in his chair. Renee and Allison were chatting in low voices about anything that would take their minds of the situation just for a few seconds. Kevin kept walking around, through the hall or to the bathroom, anywhere, just to keep himself busy.

Andrew hadn’t moved once since his breakdown, still staring at a random point in front of him. He hadn’t dared to close his eyes for longer than a blink, and so hadn’t his brother. Aaron sat by the opposite wall, occasionally looking at Andrew nervously.

Wymack had to admit, he was proud of his foxes. Except for Neil of course, whom he was currently pissed at.

David still wasn’t sure what had actually happened. Since they still hadn’t gotten any real information from the doctors, the only things they had to work with were the image of Neil passing out on the court, pressing his shaky hand to his bloody t-shirt, and his half-conscious confession whispered to Jean that he had been shot right before the match.

It could have been, of course, only an old memory that Neil’s barely awake mind had remembered seconds before passing out, but it could have been truth as well. Had it been any other player, Wymack wouldn’t have taken that option into account, but Josten was exactly the kind of person who would have gotten shot and kept quiet about it until he bled out.

He sighed. Incredible how this kid had managed to survive a whole mafia being after him, but now he was going to be murdered by his own team for being this fucking stupid.

Eventually a nurse approached Wymack, taking her mask off. Andrew abruptly raised his head before she even started speaking, Renee and Allison paused their conversation, Kevin and Nicky went completely still.

‘Are you here for Neil Josten?’ she asked.

‘Yes.’ Wymack answered immediately. ‘I am his coach. How is he doing?’

‘He’s alive but unstable.’ the nurse replied. She opened a notebook on a marked page, quickly going through the patient’s notes. ‘Would you mind coming with me for a second, sir?’ she asked eventually.

Before he could agree Andrew stood up and silently walked up to them. He wasn’t looking at anyone, but it was clear he wasn’t going to let Wymack leave without him, so he decided not to protest.

The nurse sent a sceptical glaze towards the foxes, seeing Nicky and Kevin already get up to follow them.

‘No more than two people, please.’ she clarified.

Nicky sat down, offended, and Kevin looked ready to argue, but Wymack interrupted him before he got a chance.

‘We’ll tell you everything immediately. I’ll be back in ten minutes.’ he said, and followed the nurse to her office with his goalkeeper by his side.

‘Alright’ she set down her notebook on the desk, taking the place behind it, gesturing for them to sit in the remaining chairs. Neither of them made any move.

‘Here’s the thing’ she continued after a second. ‘He had a bullet in his stomach and he somehow managed to play with in for over an hour.’ Wymack sighed, shutting his eyes. Of. Fucking. Course.

‘Will he get out of this?’ he asked, trying to keep his voice calm, at least for Andrew’s sake.

‘Depends..’ the nurse replied, looking down on the desk. Andrew went completely still. ‘None of his internal organs were damaged, fortunately, but he lost way too much blood.’

‘What does it mean for him?’ Andrew finally spoke. His voice was quiet and surprisingly calm, but it wasn’t his usual calmness that almost resembled boredom, it was an unnatural kind of calmness that had been made to keep fear and anger at bay.

‘It means he is going to need a blood transfusion if he wants to make it through the night, and he’s going to need it quickly.’ she clarified sternly.

‘Fuck’ Wymack cursed under his breath. This was not looking good. Maybe it wouldn’t have been such a huge problem for a normal kid who could get blood from one of their parents, but getting Neil’s mother of father for this was simply impossible for obvious reasons. And as far as he knew, if it wasn’t a family member giving their blood, Neil would be added to the list of patients waiting for the transfusion. That would take way too long.

‘Are his parents available to come to the hospital?’ the nurse asked.

Wymack raised his eyebrows. This woman clearly hadn’t watched the news last year. ‘No.’ he answered shortly.

‘Well, are there any other family members? A sibling or parent would be the best, but everything matters in this case.’

‘His uncle.’ Andrew said suddenly.

Of course. Wymack had gotten so used to associating Neil’s family with potential death threats that he had completely forgotten about Stuart Hatford. He wasn’t sure what the man’s relationship with his nephew was, but he hoped it was enough to convince him to help. Good thing Andrew managed to keep thinking straight.

‘Can you get him here?’ the nurse said. ‘As quick as possible, he has no more than a few hours.’

‘We’ll do everything we can.’ Wymack confirmed. Andrew turned and walked out of the room, not speaking another word.

This was really not looking good. The only hope they had to save Neil was his uncle, who, as far as David knew, could have been on the other side of the country right now, and even if he managed to get here on time, he might not have the same blood type as Neil.

He ran his hand through his hair as he quickly walked back to the foxes. It wasn’t until now when he realized that he was not ready to lose another one of them.

Seth’s death last year had made a huge impact on the whole team, and he had probably been the least likeable player. Still, he had belonged to them, he had been under Wymack’s care and, even though everyone had expected that eventually he would try suicide again, none of them had been ready to lose him. It hadn’t even been suicide anyway.

Now, it was about Neil.

Neil had brought all the foxes together, unintentionally forcing them to care about him and about each other more than anything, creating an unbreakable bond between every single player of the team. Neil had gone through everything there was to go through and he had somehow survived. It was unfair for him to leave now. If they had not been ready for Seth’s death, while being the most divided and uncaring team in existence, they were sure as hell not ready for Neil’s death now.

‘What’s going on?’ Matt asked, having just woken up, seeing Andrew go through Neil’s bag quickly.

‘He needs a transfusion. We’ll try to get his uncle here.’ Wymack explained as Andrew remained silent.

Kevin was staring at him from the end of the hall. Maybe he was waiting for any confirmation that his friend was going to live, any real reassurance, and Wymack wished he could give him that.

‘And.. if he doesn’t get here, what’s going to happen?’ Nicky asked carefully.

Wymack bit his lip and took Neil’s phone from Andrew. There was probably a bigger chance Hatford would answer if he saw his nephew’s number than an unknown one.

Nicky stared at the ground, the silence being a clear enough answer.

The number was already chosen on the phone. It wasn’t labelled in any way, but Andrew most likely knew the number by memory, just like Neil did, so Wymack trusted that it was the right one. He pressed the button and waited for the signal, not even trying to leave the hall for privacy. The foxes would have followed him anyway.

‘Hello?’ the voice in the phone spoke.

Wymack cleared his throat. ‘Good evening, my name is David Wymack. I am Neil’s coach.’

Stuart was silent for a second. ‘What happened?’ he asked eventually.

David tried to find the right words but there weren’t any, so he decided to be straightforward and get it over with. ‘He got shot. He’s bleeding out and needs a blood transfusion and I’m afraid you’re his only family member.’

‘Excuse me, he what?’ Stuart asked. There was a sound of a moving chair and something heavy being set down or picked up. ‘He said he..’ he paused. ‘Fucking. Kid.’

‘Did he tell you anything?’ Wymack said carefully. He felt the foxes’ eyes on him, listening to his every word.

‘He called me a few hours ago, saying that someone tried to shoot him. I guess he forgot to mention that they fucking succeeded.’

‘Of course he did.’ David sighed. Was stickball really this important to this addicted child?

‘I’m coming, I was investigating the attempt so I am already in California. Will be there as soon as possible. Send me the address.’ he spoke quickly.

Wymack felt slightly more hopeful as he ended the call and typed the hospital’s address to Stuart. At least he would be here quickly, now the only problem was his blood type.

He repeated the talk to the foxes as soon as he put the phone down. None of them said anything, they only looked around each other reassuringly. Maybe he shouldn’t have given them hope, but that was what they all needed, even if it was false.

It had already been dark outside for a while, although none of them had bothered to check the time. Wymack finally decided to get coffee while waiting for Stuart. He was going to stay awake for much longer after all.

He walked to the coffee express on the opposite side of the hall. As the machine turned on and started pouring coffee into a paper cup, Kevin approach him and leaned his head on the wall. Neither of them spoke for a few seconds.

Eventually Wymack handed Kevin the cup and took out his wallet to buy another one.

‘How are you holding up?’ he asked as the second coffee was being made.

Kevin only shrugged, staring at the ground. Then he said: ‘Last year I recognized him after the banquet.’ It was such a sudden confession that Wymack raised his head at his son as he continued. ‘Jean and Riko knew who he was and let him know that they knew. I spoke to him that night on the court.’

David waited. He felt like this was something important, something that his son had thought about for a while but never said out loud.

‘He knew that Riko recognized him but still refused to run. He decided to stay with us and report his father to FBI after the finale. He knew they were going to kill him and accepted that.’

Oh. There it was. So many things suddenly started making sense. Why after the banquet Neil had started spending so much time with the team, why he had trained every night like his life depended on it, why he had been so against becoming the team captain. He had simply been sure he wasn’t going to make it until then.

‘I know he is.. well, almost safe now, but he lived months getting ready for his own death.’ Kevin said. ‘And what if he’s still thinking this way? Maybe this is why he’s so reckless with his life, he can’t get used to the fact he’s allowed to live now.. I don’t know, this is stupid.’ he ran his hand through his hair.

In some terrifying sort of way, Kevin’s words made sense. Wymack didn’t think Neil had ever been suicidal, but he had never been allowed to live normally either. Maybe he really was somewhere on the line between desperately wanting to live and an intention of death. His life seemed to matter so little to him.

This kid needed serious help.

‘We’ll talk to him about it, okay Kevin?’ Wymack said after a few seconds of silence. The “considering he doesn’t die first” was left unspoken.

Kevin nodded hesitantly. ‘He’s..’ he started. ‘He’s like a brother to me. And I don’t know how to show him that.’

Wymack gently put his hand on his son’s shoulder in silence reassurance. He had noticed that, of course, how much Kevin and Neil acted like siblings towards each other. It was more visible in their constant arguments over the littlest things than any brotherly affection, but it was clear how important they were to each other.

‘I think we can worry about that once we yell our throats out at him, don’t you think?’

Kevin wheezed quietly. It wasn’t a laugh, but it was the closest he could get to it right now. ‘Yeah, I think we can.’

The foxes were chatting in low voices when they returned to them. The players seemed a little more hopeful now, especially Renee, who was desperately trying to keep the team positive. Only Andrew kept sitting still, completely ignoring the conversation.

‘Just to be sure’ Matt said. ‘That guy, Neil’s uncle whom we’re waiting for, it’s.. that dude who killed his father? The mafia boss?’

‘Yes’ Wymack replied simply. He was too tired to be bothered by this.

‘Cool, cool’ Matt answered. ‘I’m a fan.’

David sighed. He really was too tired for this. Well, technically this was exactly what he had signed up for when he had taken all of the foxes into his team. He had known that they were the most problematic children in existence, but still willed to give them another chance. Although he did not regret anything, he hadn’t thought that one certain player was going to be so much more problematic and reckless than others.

They had waited maybe twenty minutes before the door at the end of the hall opened. A tall, dark haired man with round glasses and a stern expression quickly walked in their direction.

‘Stuart Hatford.’ he introduced himself immediately, wasting no time. ‘Show me where I am supposed to go.’ he had a distinguishable British accent, mildly resembling the way Neil spoke when he was stressed or angry, whenever his native accent, likely learned from his mother, revealed itself.

Wymack showed the man the way to the nurse’s office, who led him to another part of the hospital.

The next minutes felt like hours, the tension from before making its way to the team again. They waited in complete silence for any news about their teammate, seeming to barely take any breaths.

Finally, the nurse returned, her notebook in hand. All the foxes turned to look at her, this time actually holding their breaths, as if as much as a single move of their chests could break any chances there were.

‘Everything’s alright’ she said, and Wymack felt if a huge weight had just been taken off his shoulders. ‘Mr. Hatford has the same blood type as Neil and has agreed on the blood transfusion.’

He closed his eyes and let out a breath. He was not losing another fox, then. Unless he was going to kill Neil himself, considering Kevin didn’t do it first, of course.

It truly was a miracle that Neil, having inherited almost every genetic trait there was to inherit from his father, had not Nathan’s but Mary’s blood in his veins, the same blood that her brother did.

It wasn’t until hours later when Wymack was finally let into Neil’s room. Once the foxes made sure that their friend was no longer in mortal danger and that no more than three people, except for the family members, were allowed into his room, they eventually agreed to leave the hospital. Although they clearly hadn’t exactly calmed down, as Wymack kept getting texts from Matt, asking about Neil’s current state every five minutes.

Andrew could not be persuaded to leave until Neil was leaving too, which was to be expected. Kevin refused to leave his two best friends in the hospital, so he stayed with them as well.

The first thing Wymack had noticed after entering Neil’s room was how pale the boy was. He was still unconscious, of course, as his body still didn’t have enough strength to keep him awake. The plastic mask on his face was keeping him breathing.

David leaned his back against the wall. The tiredness from the whole day actually started kicking in now. Keeping this kid alive should be a full time job, he thought.

Andrew, immediately after entering the room, walked up to Neil’s bed settling himself on its edge without a word.

Kevin stood in the doorway for a moment, staring at Neil with both anger and deep sadness. Then he left the room, with a sort of frustrated expression and David decided that it was best to let him be.

Stuart came to check on his nephew as well, although he wasn’t going to learn much by sticking there. Nothing but the faint movement of Neil’s chest indicated that the boy was even alive.

None of them spoke, which was honestly kind of awkward. Wymack had told Stuart what exactly had happened during the match with USC, while he had been waiting for a check-up after the blood transfusion. David had expected for Stuart to be angry and blame it on him for not taking proper care of his player, and if he had, Wymack would have understood him. But, if anything, the man seemed to only be angry at Neil, which he also understood.

‘Are your players okay?’ Stuart finally asked, breaking the silence. It was a completely random question, but Wymack answered truthfully.

‘No, why?’

The man shrugged. ‘One of them asked me for an autograph. The other said that I was “going on his hear me out cake”? You know what, nevermind, I think I don’t want to know.’

Wymack decided that he didn’t want either.

‘What about the people who did this?’ he asked. ‘Did you manage to find them?’

‘Not yet.’ Stuart answered. ‘My people found out about a group of Wesninski’s men who brought themselves together after the butcher’s death, most likely trying to get back under Moriyamas’ wing. That assassination attempt was a desperate act, though. Soon they will realize that Ichirou no longer cares about him and leave it alone. Still, I’ll find out who it was and take care of them.’

After a pause Hatford asked: ‘Do you know if there was anyone following him recently, anyone who seemed suspicious to him? It would help if I knew where to look.’

‘If Neil told anyone anything, it would be him.’ Wymack replied, pointing at Andrew with a nod of his head.

Andrew looked at them once as said: ‘No one did.’

Stuart raised his eyebrows sceptically, staring at him. ‘And who are you to him?’ he asked.

Andrew raised his head once more, moving his gaze from Neil to Hatford. He said nothing, and after a few seconds of stretching silence, Stuart gave up and sighed.

‘I will let you know when I learn something.’ he informed them and took his coat from the chair by the wall.

As he walked out of the room, he passed Kevin in the doorway. The boy closed the door behind him and sat on the opposite edge of Neil’s bed.

‘Why can’t you just say you’re his boyfriend like a normal person?’ he asked.

‘Why can’t you just be sober for more than a day like a normal person?’ he shot back.

‘Seriously?’

Wymack smiled watching them. If they could bully each other again, they were doing much better already.

They were all going to have a long talk with Neil once he was awake, a talk that would most likely consist of yelling at him for his stupidity, but for now they could simply rest and keep looking after their sleeping fox.

Chapter Text

Neil woke up in an unfamiliar room, which he quickly realized was a hospital bedroom, as it immediately reminded him of his post-Baltimore stay.

He felt numb and the light of the room kept hurting his eyes. He shifted uncomfortably, trying to recall the recent events. Most of his memory was fuzzy, however he did remember clearly that there had been supposed to be a match between the Foxes and the Trojans. The game had started, surely, but if Neil was in the hospital then something must have happened-

Oh. He remembered now. The wet blood staining his clothes, the stabbing pain spreading all over his body, the numbness slowly overtaking his mind, all of it suddenly came back to him.

Well, now he was off court for at least a month. He cursed mentally as he thought of how pissed Kevin was going to be. He ruined a game against his favourite team after all. Coach Wymack was not likely to be kind, as well. They couldn’t afford something like this that early in the season. And Andrew, he surely didn’t care about the game as much as his teammates did, but Neil had lied to him when he had said he was fine.

Jean was probably never going to talk to him again. Neil had passed out right in front of him, and, as far as he remembered, Jean was the one who caught him before he could hit the ground. He ruined the game for him as well.

Still, the most important question remained.

‘Did we win?’ he muttered, hoping there was someone in the room who could answer his question.

A nurse approached him quickly, asking basic questions to determine his state. She was not Abby so he was not very eager to talk to her, but he replied simply to get back to his own question.

‘Did we win?’ he repeated impatiently, his head slightly clearer now. ‘There was a game, I must have passed out in the second half..’

The nurse looked at him with something similar to pity in her eyes. She checked his pulse and wrote something in her notebook.

‘I don’t know.’ she said finally. ‘I’m not really into Exy, you know? I wouldn’t-’

‘What?’ Neil asked, staring at her. ‘How can you not be into Exy? How can someone choose nursery school when you can-’

‘Kid’ she sighed. ‘I think you have a serious stickball addiction and I am noting that in your medical files. Let’s leave the Exy-related questions to your teammates, alright?’

Neil exhaled heavily and leaned against the bed frame. He wondered whether his teammates were here.

‘How long until I can play?’ he asked after a few seconds.

The nurse slowly turned to look at him in silent disappointment.

‘What? It is a medical-related question.’ Neil explained.

She wrote something in her notebook again. This is going well, he thought sarcastically.

‘At least two months, I assume.’

‘What!?’ he sat up abruptly and immediately regretted it, as sharp pain suddenly hit his side. He hissed and pressed his hand to the bandaged wound.

‘The painkillers are wearing off, I will give you some more if it gets bad.’ she said. ‘Rest now and in a while you’ll be able to see your teammates.’

‘Are they here?’ Neil asked, carefully leaning back against the bed frame.

‘Yes’ she said shortly. ‘Two of them and your coach haven’t left the hospital at all, the rest keeps making random appearances every few hours.’

‘Oh.’ he said. He was honestly not expecting this. He probably had been here for a while already, and two of the Foxes stayed with him all this time. Kevin and Andrew, he guessed. He felt something warm in his chest at the thought, and this time it was not blood. Probably an improvement.

It took an hour and multiple tests more until he was finally allowed to see anyone else. Neil tried to calm himself down as the nurse went to inform the Foxes that he was awake.

They were obviously going to be furious, especially Kevin, but it all depended on whether they won or lost. The Trojans always had the advantage of having more players and with the Foxes losing one striker mid-game, their chances were not very big. Still, he hoped his team had managed to win despite the situation.

Maybe he really should have told them about the gunshot wound after all, he thought.

The door opened before he could consider it and Kevin stormed inside. He. Was. Pissed.

‘You!’ he yelled, staring right at Neil.

Wymack and Andrew entered the room just a second later. Neil immediately turned his gaze to Andrew, but his expression was unreadable, as always. He was not looking at him, he simply came up to the bed and took the chair right next to it. Neil wanted to say something but was suddenly interrupted by Kevin, who somehow materialised in front of the bed.

‘You fucking IDIOT-’ he started, but Wymack held out his hand, asking him to stay quiet.

The coach sighed before asking:’ Neil. How are you feeling?’

Neil blinked. He was not expecting such a simple question. He looked at the Foxes, trying to understand the situation.

Andrew’s gaze was fixed on the ground, he seemed to be purposely avoiding Neil’s eyes. Even though, just like usually, he did not show any emotions, something was different. His eyebags were bigger than normally and his eyes seemed to be a little redder. Has he slept at all while staying in this hospital?

Kevin was, of course, furious. His arms were crossed and he kept biting on his lip. He met Neil’s stare and furrowed his brows in anger. He was not just mad, though, there was something like worry or sadness in his eyes as well.

Wymack was unusually calm. Neil was used to seeing the coach angry, especially at him, but since he had joined the Foxes he figured out that it was not an honest anger. When Wymack was really furious, he hid it well and managed to stay calm. However now, most of all, he just seemed tired.

‘I’m.. fine, I think?’ Neil tried. Wymack raised an eyebrow and he winced. Wrong answer. ‘My side hurt before but I got painkillers so now my head is just spinning a bit.’ he explained.

‘Okay.’ the coach said. ‘In that case, tell me please, what the fuck was that?’

There it was. Neil looked away, trying to find the right words.

‘I.. uh.. someone shot me.’ he said. That was clearly not a good explanation.

‘How did that happen?’ Wymack asked after a few seconds, realising that Neil was not going to elaborate.

‘Well I.. I went outside before the game and there was a car..’ the coach was still staring at him expectantly, so he carried on. ‘Someone opened the window and shot a few times and then they left. They must have muffled the sound somehow because no one heard it. And I called my uncle because they were probably my father’s people.. And he said he would take care of it. That’s it.’

He heard Kevin taking a deep breath. ‘And you didn’t think, even for one second, to fucking tell someone that you had a bullet in your stomach?’ his teammate asked through gritted teeth.

‘But then you wouldn’t let me play’ he answered, raising his head. ‘What was the score anyway? Who won?’

‘Neil’ Wymack said slowly, in a low voice. ‘If you stayed on court for a few more minutes, you would not have made it. You lost so much blood that you needed a transfusion and you still barely survived.’

‘Oh’ Neil replied slowly. ‘Okay. But who won the game?’

Wymack closed his eyes and took a deep breath while Kevin hit his head against the wall.

‘No one did’ Kevin finally explained. ‘It was stopped and both teams agreed on a rematch.’

Neil let out a breath he had been holding and felt his heart finally beating slower. They did not lose. They still had a chance to win and that was what counted.

‘What is the problem then?’ he asked. ‘We didn’t lose after all.’

Kevin and Wymack stared at him for a few seconds and then exchanged a glance. He felt that there was still something he did not understand.

‘The problem’ Kevin said slowly. ‘is that you almost died.’

Neil blinked. ‘But I didn’t.’

The room was still uncomfortably silent. He felt like there was something more he was expected to say.

‘Look, I’m sorry I got shot, but-’

‘Josten.’ the coach interrupted him. ‘There was nothing you could have done about that. What you SHOULD have done, however, was fucking tell us about it.’

‘I was going to’ he said. ‘I just wanted to play first. It was an important match and we couldn’t afford to lose.’

‘A match is not important when your life is in danger.’ Kevin stated, staring right at him.

‘What?’ Neil asked in confusion. That was a very.. un-Kevin thing to say. ‘But Exy-’

‘I don’t fucking care about Exy!’ Kevin snapped.

The room went silent. Neil kept staring at his friend, not being able to say a word. Even Wymack seemed shocked, maybe even slightly impressed.

Kevin closed his eyes and sighed. ‘Look’ he said. ‘we all.. care about you. I already almost lost you last year and I am not going to go through this again. So, while your life is at stake, I am not going to care about a single match.’

Neil was quiet for a few seconds, trying to understand Kevin’s words. ‘You care about me because I play in your team’ he said finally. ‘If I can’t do that, there is no use of me, that’s why I had to be in this game.’

‘I care about you because you’re my friend!’ Kevin snapped. ‘Is that really so difficult to understand? You’re like a brother to me, Neil, you have already been when we played together as kids. I care about you because you’re you, not because of Exy.’

Neil stayed silent. It honestly was difficult to understand. Exy had always been what Kevin cared about the most, and there was rarely any space for anything or anyone else.

On the other hand, he remembered the previous season. How Kevin had insisted on getting Andrew off his meds, even though he would be off court for months. How he had begged Neil to run, even though they would immediately be removed from the games if they lost another player. “Every night”, even though Neil had been going to die in a few months and there had been no future for him at the time.

‘Neil’ a quiet voice brought him back from his thoughts. Andrew was looking at him expectantly and, as Neil raised his head, their eyes finally met. ‘Do you remember what I told you once? About the last time I cried.’

That was an unexpected change of topic, but Neil carefully answered:’ Yes. You said you haven’t since you were thirteen.’

Andrew nodded. ‘Except yesterday when you were bleeding out to death.’

Neil froze. ‘What?’

‘Yes. I was crying and Kevin had to calm me down from a panic attack in front of the whole team.’

‘It’s true’ Kevin confirmed from the other side of the bed.

‘It was really embarrassing.’ Andrew said. ‘And I want you to know that it was your fucking fault.’

Neil looked down at his blanket. Andrew had cried for the first time in eight years. And it was because he had almost died. Because Andrew cared about his life so much.

For the first time he felt guilty for another reason than ruining the game.

He felt a hand touching his cheek, slow enough for him to move away if he had wanted to. Andrew took his face into his hands and forced him to look into his eyes.

‘I am only saying this once.’ he started. ‘I care about you and I can’t ever have you dead, no matter if you can play or not. I don’t want you ever pulling that shit again, understood?’

Neil nodded shakily. He swallowed, making sure his voice was steady. ‘Did I reach 130%?’ he asked.

‘Two fucking hundred, Josten.’

He smiled slightly at that. He felt the weight on the mattress as Kevin took a place on the bed next to him. Neil silently reached out and squeezed his hand in apology.

‘I’m sorry.’ he said quietly.

‘For?’ Wymack asked.

‘For.. not telling you about the bullet.’

The coach sighed. ‘Finally. I want you to inform me of every serious injury, no matter what the situation is, is that clear?’

‘Yes coach’ Neil replied. After a few seconds of silence he added: ‘In my defence, I did not think it was a serious injury. I didn’t know I was that close to bleeding out.’

Wymack blinked. He heard Kevin taking a disappointed breath.

‘Neil, what the fuck do you consider a “serious injury”?’ the coach asked.

‘Uh.. Like.. if I lost a limb or something?’

Wrong answer, apparently, because Wymack kept looking at him as though he was going to quit his job.

‘I don’t get paid enough for this. Alright, new rule.’ he said. ‘Neil, from now on, you’re going to inform me of every single injury you have, even if it’s just a paper cut.’

Neil opened his mouth to protest, but the coach continued: ‘And if I find out that you haven’t told me about as much as a headache, you’ll be banned from court for a week.’

‘What!? You can’t do that!’ Neil yelled. He looked at Kevin for help, but his friend only shrugged, visibly agreeing with his father.

‘I can and I will.’ Wymack stated. ‘It’s not my fault you can’t differ a serious injury from a simple bruise.’

‘We should have a whiteboard in the meeting room: “Neil’s current injuries”’ Kevin said.

‘Excellent idea. Ask Allison to get one, please.’ Wymack agreed.

‘You can’t be serious about this.’ Neil groaned, but Kevin was already texting Allison.

‘It’s your own fault.’ the coach explained. ‘You’re going to stay in the hospital for observation for a few more days. The rest of the team is probably on their way now, hearing that you’re awake, so get ready for more lectures.’

‘This is ridiculous’ he muttered, but he almost didn’t mind. The feeling of being cared about the way the Foxes cared about him was something entirely new, but he thought he could get used to it eventually.

Maybe it was worth getting shot to realise how much of a family they were to him.

Chapter Text

The Trojans waited in their meeting room for any valuable information. They knew already that the match has been stopped and they would not get back on court that day, but they still needed updates from the Foxes and refused to leave before receiving any. The coaches had informed them that sticking around was pretty much pointless, as the game was not going to be resumed, and that they could go back to the campus. Around half the players, mostly first-years, had listened but those who had had a chance to meet the Foxes during the previous years insisted on staying.

Jean stared at the ground, bouncing his leg impatiently. The only thing they had gotten so far was a rushed agreement with the Foxes’ captain on continuing the game at another date. Dan had talked to them shortly after Neil had been taken by an ambulance, informed that they knew nothing and apologized for the inconveniences.

Jean remembered the weight of Neil’s body as he caught him collapsing, the fingers clutching his arm going loose and the dark blood on Neil’s hand the moment he pulled it away from his side.

He said he had gotten shot. That would make sense, of course, considering Neil’s unusual upbringing. What did not make sense, however, was the fact he had been playing for over an hour with a bullet wound in his body. But, the moment he had said it, Neil had been on the verge of passing out. He had not been thinking straight and he must have gotten hurt somehow else. That was the only logical explanation.

Jean barely registered Jeremy taking a place next to him on the bench.

‘Hey’ he started quietly. ‘Still no answer from Kevin?’

Jean shook his head. He had tried to reach him multiple times, but Kevin never picked up or answered a text.

Laila kneeled in front of them and took Jean’s hands into hers.

‘Are you okay, Jean?’ she asked.

‘Obviously’ he replied shortly. ‘I am not the one bleeding out in a hospital right now.’ he stared at his hands, still held by Laila. He had washed the blood off of them already, but his clothes were still stained with it. He had never thought that it could be so visible on Trojan-red clothes.

Laila only sighed and tightened her grip on his hands.

‘He’s going to be okay, darling’ Cat tried quietly, taking a place on the ground next to her girlfriend. ‘He has been through so much more last year and he’s still here. At this point I am convinced nothing can kill Josten.’

‘I do not care about him. I only wish to finish the game.’ Jean said. It must have been an obvious lie because Cat and Jeremy exchanged a glance.

‘Well’ Cat continued. ‘If he dies now, the Foxes are out and we win. Yet you still care what happens, don’t you?’

Jean sent her an annoyed look, at which she only smiled.

‘What happened to “that ill-bred child is not my friend?”’ Jeremy added.

‘He is not.’ Jean explained once again. Okay, maybe he did care about Neil a little bit, but that didn’t make them friends and it never would. However, as much as he hated to admit it, he was still grateful for him for handling Grayson.

Suddenly his phone sounded. Jean took it out immediately and looked at the screen, reading the message from Kevin.

‘”We’re at the hospital. Still don’t know anything”’ he read aloud. ‘Fucking useful, Day.’ he added as he closed his phone angrily.

‘Hey, but that means he’s alive’ Cat tried to reason. ‘If he wasn’t, they would have told the Foxes immediately.’

‘Cat is right, Jean’ Jeremy added softly. ‘And we probably won’t be learning anything else today. Let’s stick with the fact he’s not dead and head home now, okay?’

Jean still stared at his hands, considering. Eventually he nodded and got up from the bench. He heard Jeremy informing the coaches of Kevin’s message as he collected his things.

‘Alright everyone’ coach Rhemann announced. ‘We know nothing and we won’t learn anything today. Josten is most likely alive and let’s leave his state to the Foxes, okay? Jeremy will inform us if anything changes. Take a day off tomorrow and we’ll see each other at training on Wednesday.’

The team agreed hesitantly, sending quick glances towards Jean and Jeremy. Jean decided to ignore it, while the captain did his best to assure the Trojans that Neil was currently safe and that the game was going to be resumed on another day.

The drive home was silent. Jean kept staring out the window, avoiding any unnecessary conversations.

The rest of the day, as well as the next, they were still left with very little information. Kevin still wasn’t picking up, he only messaged once that Neil was alive but asleep. Although training had been cancelled, Jeremy agreed to take Jean to the court, using it as a distraction from the situation.

It was not until Wednesday when Kevin finally called them.

They were in the middle of training when Jeremy heard his phone calling. He usually turned it off during the games, but considering the current situation, coach Rhemann advised him to leave the sound on. Jeremy put his racquet down on the ground and went to the changing room to pick up the phone. Jean followed him there and the captain did not protest.

‘Hello?’ Jeremy said as he picked up.

‘Jeremy, Jean, hello. I’m sorry for leaving you without info, it was just a.. weird night.’ they heard Kevin’s voice. Jean did not question how he knew he was there as well, there were more pressing matters to discuss.

‘How is Neil?’ Jean asked urgently.

‘He’s fin- no wait, that word has been banned. He’s mostly alright now, although he almost died, needed a blood transfusion and is off court for months.’

Jean and Jeremy looked at each other in confusion. Jean felt his heart speeding up. It did look bad when Neil passed out on the court, but he didn’t think it was that dangerous. He didn’t think that, once again, Josten would come a step away from death. He took a deep breath and forced himself to remember that Neil was alright now.

‘What happened?’ Jeremy asked.

‘Guess. Fucking guess what happened.’ Kevin answered in a more annoyed voice than they had ever heard him speak. Jeremy glanced at Jean and he only shrugged in response.

‘Someone shot him right before the game and he didn’t tell anyone about it.’ Kevin said.

‘I’m sorry, what?’ Jeremy choked out.

Jean froze. So Neil was telling the truth after all. How it was possible that he played for so long after having been shot, he didn’t know, but it might have officially been the dumbest thing Josten had ever done.

‘Likely someone who had worked for his father before last year.’ Kevin continued. ‘Well, Neil decided to keep his injury to himself and now everyone is pissed at him and we have to schedule a meeting to continue the game.’

‘Holy shit’ Jeremy muttered. ‘Kevin, we- of course we’re gonna start the game over. I’ll talk to the team but I think everyone will agree that we can’t just continue that game, we have to play it again from the beginning.’

Kevin was quiet for a few seconds. ‘Are you sure?’ he finally asked. ‘Technically the fault is on our side, so we won’t hold it against you if you decide to resume the match.’

‘Kevin, one of your players had a bullet wound’

‘A bullet, actually. It was still in his stomach.’

Jeremy cursed under his breath and ran his hand through his hair. ‘Exactly. It was unfair on so many levels. We’re starting over, as long as the team agrees.’

‘Okay. I’ll inform the Foxes.’

‘Kevin’ Jean said, moving closer to the phone. ‘Can we come see him?’

‘I think so, yeah’ he answered. ‘He’s staying here for a few more days at least.’

‘Jean and I will be there, then’ Jeremy said, looking at Jean reassuringly.

After Kevin ended the call, they stayed in the changing room for a few more minutes. Jean sighed and leaned against the wall.

‘You do care about him, don’t you?’ Jeremy asked, with a slight smile.

‘Unfortunately, it would seem so.’ Jean replied.

‘He’s okay, Jean. We can visit him today in the evening, if you’d like, and you can yell at him as much as you want.’

‘Mhm’ Jean only muttered in response.

Jeremy stood up and made for the door, his friend obviously following.

‘Guys, we’ve got news from Kevin’ the captain announced as he entered the court. Their teammates ran up to them immediately, abandoning the racquets on the ground. Coach Rhemann approached them as well a second later.

‘Okay, so..’ Jeremy started awkwardly. He clearly didn’t know how to put the situation into words. ‘Neil kind of got shot. Before the match. He played with a bullet in his body.’

The players stared at him in silence. Cat and Laila exchanged a look, Cody cursed under their breath.

‘What?’ Coach asked in shock. ‘Is this kid fucking serious?’

‘Apparently’ Jeremy said. ‘Well, he’s okay now, mostly. He lost a lot of blood but he got a transfusion and made it.’

‘What the fuck is wrong with this team’ Pat whispered. ‘Every year they’ve got some new crazy near death experiences going on.’

‘Precisely.’ Jeremy added. ‘Kevin suggested continuing the game some other time but I think starting over would be a fair thing to do, considering the circumstances.’

‘Absolutely’ Coach Rhemann agreed. ‘I’ll speak with the other coaches to make the decision, but first, does everyone agree?’

Some Trojans nodded, none of them opposing the idea. The coach asked them to resume the training while he left to speak with the faculty.

‘Hey’ Jeremy whispered to Jean as they picked up their racquets. ‘Everything alright?’

‘Yes.’ he answered. ‘I’m just pissed at this idiotic child.’

Jeremy chuckled in response. ‘I can imagine. We’ll go see him right after we carry our stuff back home and get changed.’

And so they did. The hospital was not far from their home, but with the traffic the drive took them over an hour. At last, Jeremy found a decent parking spot and they both made their way to the hospital.

Jean checked the message from Kevin in which he had mentioned Neil’s room number. Although, as they soon found out, it was not necessary, because they could heard the Foxes’ voices from the other side of the hall.

Kevin and his father stood by the door. The moment they saw them, Kevin walked towards them and Wymack went to talk to the doctor to allow the Trojans to enter.

‘Hi, Kevin’ Jeremy greeted him. ‘How are you holding up?’

‘Today is good. Yesterday was so much worse, believe me.’ Kevin glanced at Jean who stood by Jeremy’s side. ‘Jean. I’m sorry our first game turned out this way.’

‘Your fox should apologize for this, not you.’ Jean simply answered.

Someone screamed from the closest room and Kevin winced. ‘Ignore this.’ he said. ‘Nicky tried to teach Neil how to play uno and he got surprisingly good at this. Now he keeps giving Nicky a plus four in every round.’

‘What is uno?’ Jean asked, and it was most likely a wrong question because Jeremy stared at him in disbelief.

‘I know what we’ll be doing this evening.’ he said. ‘Anyway, can we go see Neil?’

Kevin turned to look at his dad who had just finished talking to the doctor. Wymack showed them a thumb up before leaving them in the hall.

‘Josten.’ Jean said immediately when they entered the room. Neil was sitting on the bed, wearing white hospital clothes. He still looked paler than usually, but visibly better than during their game. He looked up the moment the Trojans stepped into the room.

Andrew was by Neil’s side, as always, sitting on the bed next to him with his usual bored expression. Nicky was on the other side of the bed, clutching around forty cards, visibly close to tears. Matt and Dan had brought two chairs up to the bed, either playing whatever “uno” was or making fun of Nicky.

‘Heyyyyy’ Neil started at the sight of the Trojans. He clearly already knew what was coming.

‘You complete idiot..’ Jean spat out, barely restraining his anger.

‘I know’ Neil said, holding up his hands in defeat. ‘Today I’ve been yelled at and scolded multiple times and I apologize for the inconvenience. I promise I will never again hide a bullet wound from my team.’

‘Or any wound’ Dan added. ‘He’s been officially banned from hiding any injury, even if it’s only a sunburn. So you can be certain it will not happen again.’

‘Well, that’s a relief to hear’ Jeremy said, glancing at Jean, who still seemed widely unsatisfied.

‘I did not drag you through these weeks in the Nest so that you can throw your life away like this.’ he said trough gritted teeth, staring at the ground.

‘I know.’ Neil answered, more serious than before. Jeremy froze at the mention of the Nest, looking between the two of them. ‘I’m really sorry, Jean. I didn’t mean to worry you.’

‘I wasn’t worried.’ he stated.

‘Jean, I had over twenty unanswered calls from you yesterday.’ Kevin said, looking at him sceptically. ‘You were totally worried.’

‘Awww, really?’ Neil smirked. ‘That’s sweet, Jean.’

‘Shut up before I push you off this bed.’ he said in a low voice.

‘Boys, come play uno with us.’ Dan ordered, gathering and shuffling the cards.

‘Please.’ Nicky begged. ‘Help me.’

‘This seems stupid.’ Jean stated, but Jeremy was already pulling his hand.

‘Come on, I’m gonna teach you how to play. It will be fun.’ he said.

Jean rolled his eyes but took a place on the chair next to his friend. Dan started explaining the rules and giving the cards. The Foxes and Jeremy soon fell into a comfortable conversation, Jean watching them silently and staring at the cards in his hands. He still didn’t exactly understand the rules.

‘Jean?’ he heard Neil’s quiet voice by his side. ‘I- uh.. thank you.’ he stuttered. ‘For caring.’

Jean put his cards into one hand and ruffled Neil’s hair. ‘You’re still a rancid menace.’

The fox smirked again. ‘Well, you’re French.’

Jean raised his eyebrow. ‘Is that supposed to be an insult?’

‘Uh, Yes?’

He rolled his eyes and decided to leave Neil to his delusions. The fox leaned in to see Jean’s cards and pointed at a black one with “plus four” symbol.

‘It’s Nicky’s turn next. Use this one’ he whispered.

‘What does it do?’

‘Destroy his life.’

‘Do it’ Andrew spoke encouragingly for the first time since the Trojans came. ‘It’s gonna be funny.’

Jean sighed but took out the black card. Caring about Neil Josten was truly the worst decision he had ever made.

Chapter Text

Stuart Hatford was tired.

When he got the call from Neil’s coach, he was thoroughly pissed. He had spent months trying to track down Nathan’s people, then he had taken care of Nathan himself, all so that his nephew would finally be safe. But, of course, the previously mentioned nephew could not keep himself out of trouble for more than a few months.

Then he was stressed, probably just as stressed as David Wymack was when Stuart had seen him in the hospital. The man clearly tried to stay calm for his kids’ sake, but the anxiety was still visible in his every movement. Just like him, Stuart was worried that Neil was going to bleed out in that hospital and he would never get to scold him for his utter stupidity.

But now, weeks after giving his blood to save his nephew, after searching through every corner of America, trying to find those who had harmed him, he was simply tired.

Stuart leaned his forehead against the steering wheel and sighed. Before him rose an enormous exy court, the orange residence of the Palmetto state’s team. He was currently on the parking lot, reconsidering his life choices.

His people had managed to find Nathan’s pawns and eliminated them as quickly as possible, without any FBI involvement. Although some of Butcher’s people could still be at large, Neil should not be in an immediate danger anymore. Stuart could call him to share the news, but after the recent events he felt like he needed to speak to his nephew personally.

He did not like the fact that he was going to be involved in Neil’s business once again. The kid had his own life now, seemingly managing to make this place his home, now that he could finally stop running from his insane father. He did not need another criminal messing with him, even if he was the only family he had left. Sure, Stuart sometimes wished he and his nephew could have a better relationship, but he had never thought the feeling to be mutual, which is why he had chosen to stay away.

Now he didn’t really have a choice. There were a few more cars on the parking lot, most likely belonging to the team members, which meant they were probably having a practise. Neil would be off court, obviously, so it was a perfect time to speak to him privately.

Stuart opened the door of his car and left towards the court before he could change his mind.

The door to the building was unlocked, fortunately. He walked through the hall towards what he suspected was the main practise area. He immediately recognized the foxes’ coach standing behind the glass barrier. Most of the players were gathered by the entrance, taking a break or discussing their game.

David Wymack noticed him as he raised his hand to get his attention. The man said something to the captain and quickly approached Stuart, leaving his players to themselves.

‘I suppose you’re here to see Neil?’ Wymack asked without any unnecessary introductions.

Stuart slowly nodded, following the coach out of the training area. ‘Is he here?’

‘Of course he’s here, it’s impossible to keep him out of the court, even when he’s grounded’ he replied in exasperation.

Stuart raised the corner of his mouth. This man must have had a difficult life, having to stand Neil’s obsessions with no breaks. ‘How is he doing?’ he asked.

‘Better’ Wymack answered, opening the door to what must have been their meeting room. ‘He’s still bitter about being banned from practise, but he’s starting to realize that it was deserved.’

‘At least that’ Stuart muttered, staring at a whiteboard hanging on the wall. The blue writing on it read “Neil’s current injuries”, and below it listed “broken nail (left hand)”, “bruise (left knee)” and “fucking shot wound”. He decided he did not want to know.

‘I’m going to go get him.’ Wymack said, leaving Stuart alone in the room.

He looked around the place, noticing a bunch of photographs hanged on the wall. He took a few steps to have a closer look.

All the pictures presented the team members, some of which he recalled, some must have left the team long ago. Neil, visible in a few photographs, was either dark-haired or more similar to his present appearance. Some of the pictures must have been from the time when Nathan was alive and the kid still have to hide under fake identities.

One of the photographs especially caught his attention. It showed a few of Wymack’s kids having some kind of celebration. The tall backliner, whom Stuart recalled to be named Hemmick (the one who said he was going on his “hear me out cake”???) had his arm thrown around Neil’s shoulders, grinning into the camera. The Minyard twins in the background were openly arguing about something, one with a lighter in his hand, clearly not noticing that the candles on an orange cake had caught fire. The Day kid was standing in the doorway, a bottle of vodka in hand, staring at the flaming cake with a blank, disappointed expression.

The date, 31st of March, was scribbled in the corner of the picture. Although it wasn’t the date of Neil’s birthday, that must have been the event. His kid was the only one wearing a party hat. Maybe it was his birthday according to the fake documents he used during his first year in the team.

What surprised Stuart about the picture was Neil’s expression. He was smiling widely, and although his mouth was covered with his hand, his eyes made his joy clear.

He didn’t think he had ever seen Neil smiling, he realized. When he and his mother arrived to his house after escaping Nathan, his nephew was nothing but frightened, never saying a word, trying to stay still and out of everyone’s way. When he had seen him in Baltimore, he was covered in blood, clearly in shock, concentrating only on staying conscious. The last time they had met Neil hadn’t dared to show any emotions in front of Ichirou.

Yet in this picture he actually seemed to be happy. Stuart couldn’t help but smile at that. He was glad that, despite everything, Neil had managed to find his place and his people somewhere in the world.

The door behind him opened, bringing Stuart back from his head. His nephew seemed surprised to see him, however not displeased. He certainly looked better than when he lied in the hospital bed these few weeks ago.

‘Neil.’ Stuart said in greeting.

‘Hello, uncle’ he answered. ‘I wasn’t expecting to see you here.’

Stuart raised his eyebrows. The reason for his visit seemed to be obvious.

Neil certainly got that, because he winced and looked away. ‘I know, I know’ he said in an exasperated voice. ‘I was an idiot, I was reckless and I should have told someone I was injured. I can’t even count how many times I’ve had this talk already. Please, spare me this time.’

Stuart sighed. He needed to get coffee after this. ‘How are you doing?’ he finally said, resisting the urge to scold him. His team had probably done it enough.

‘I’m fine’ Neil answered and immediately winced again. ‘Please don’t tell the coach I said that.’

‘Why?’

The kid wordlessly pointed at another whiteboard, hanged on the wall by the door. The writing read “Banned words: drama queen, Riko, I’m fine, canon event (when relating to a traumatic experience)”. Stuart once again decided he should not ask.

‘Anyway’ he said. ‘There are things I need to talk to you about’ he started.

‘Okay, but’ Neil replied. ‘Can we go to the court? I can’t miss the practise.’

‘You can’t play, Neil’ Stuart reminded, sending him a questioning look.

‘But I can watch from the bench.’

Hatford sighed. This kid really was an addict. ‘Fine’ he said. ‘Let’s go.’

Neil led the way to the tribunes and they settled themselves on one of the benches, watching the game. The players were on the court now, running around and yelling at each other probably more often than necessary.

A fair-haired kid, one of the twins, stopped as they entered the tribunes, maintaining eye contact with Neil. The kid showed him a thumb up and the goalkeeper returned to his position with a nod. Stuart remembered him from the hospital, not speaking a word, but staying at Neil’s side restlessly. They must have meant a lot to each other.

None of the players could hear them from the distance, but Stuart still lowered his voice as he explained the recent events to Neil. He told him what he had managed to find out, about Nathan’s people being eliminated, but some of them possibly still being at large. Although his nephew was listening, Stuart felt like his attention was more directed towards the game than towards his safety.

‘Neil.’ he said impatiently. The kid, at last, turned his head towards him. ‘Are you even listening?’

‘Yeah’ he replied. ‘My attention is dividable. And Kevin just presented an incredible attack. I need to learn this.’

Stuart was so done with this. Neil’s attention clearly wasn’t dividable, it was entirely concentrated on the exy practise. ‘Is this sport really that important to you?’

Neil bit his lip, considering the question. ‘Well.. yeah.’ he said eventually.

Of course it was. He nearly died trying to win a game of this stupid sport. Stuart couldn’t say he understood it, he didn’t think he ever would, but Neil’s determination when it came to exy was incredible. He just needed to make sure it would never cost him his health again.

‘Neil, listen.’ he stared, staring straight at his nephew. ‘I don’t want to get involved in your life. I know you wouldn’t want that. But I can’t have you injuring yourself ever again. You’re my family and I don’t want to hear about you getting yourself in danger, understood?’

Neil blinked. ‘Why do you think I wouldn’t want that?’

‘What?’ Stuart asked in confusion.

‘You getting involved. I mean, we’re family, you said it yourself..’ Neil looked away, deciding not to continue. ‘Ah, forget it. I will do my best not to get hurt again.’

Stuart was silent for a few seconds, watching as his nephew observed the game. He somehow really hadn’t expected Neil would be okay with keeping in touch with him. He was a criminal, after all.

‘I could.. come to your games sometimes. If you want.’ Hatford said awkwardly. ‘I can see this sport is more important to you than anything, for some reason.’

Neil turned his head in surprise, considering the offer. ‘Yeah.’ he finally said. ‘I’d like that.’

‘But’ Stuart added quickly. ‘Only if you promise to be more careful with your life. And to never hide an injury again.’

Neil grinned, and Stuart thought he could get used to it. ‘I promise.’

‘Good.’ he took a breath, finally feeling somewhat relieved.