Chapter Text
Without Seth around to pick the majority of the fights, it was a surprisingly quiet practice - although maybe that's because everyone is too exhausted to talk, Neil thinks. The team kept flicking curious looks at Andrew, but the alpha responded by aiming increasingly powerful rebounds of the ball each time, so they stopped looking at him with curiousity and instead focused on not getting maimed.
Kevin was too single-minded when it came to exy and refused to let the team be distracted on the court. Usually Seth would make a comment about not listening to the cowardly alpha, which would ignite half the rest of the team to ignore Kevin also. Now that Seth was not there though, as well as the team being out of sorts, it allowed Kevin to bark orders and got Dan to wrangle the team into cohesion. Dan took her role as captain seriously, and listened to Kevin's expertise on all things exy - she didnt allow the team to slow down. Neil was relieved when Wymack finally called an end to practice, and he noticed a few others looking grateful to be let out too.
Even though they all left the stadium at the same time, Andrew's lack of care for traffic laws meant that they got to Fox Tower first. The alpha parked in his usual spot closer to the back of the parking lot, before getting out and heading to the curb near to where Allison's car is usually parked. He pulled out his cigarettes and lit one along the way, taking in a deep lungful.
"I'm going to spar with Renee, might be an hour or two," Andrew said. Neil understood, he could still see the tension in his shoulders and the glint of sharp annoyance in his eyes. Neil just nodded, knowing that Andrew needed this.
"Hey, you good?" Nicky asks when the rest of Andrew's pack reaches them on the curb. Aaron pauses to look at his brother with a hint of concern while Kevin gives an impatient glare. When Kevin meets Neil's eyes though, the alpha is quick to look away, expression melting into something thoughtful.
"You ask strange questions, Nicky," Andrew responds.
"I'm concerned, is all."
"Sounds like a you problem. Oh, here they are." Andrew's words have everyone turning to look at Allison's car that pulls up to the curb. Andrew only watches Renee as she gets out the passenger side and walks towards them. "Renee, you don't mind if I borrow you for a little while?"
Renee nodded, "do I need anything?"
"No, just yourself." Andrew takes one more deep pull of his cigarette before crushing it, pushing off the wall and set off across the parking lot. Renee just smiled at the rest of the group, and Neil nodded at her, watching as she turned and took a few long strides to catch up to Andrew to fall into step beside him.
Neil went to go to his dorm, but paused after spotting Dan's face. Her mouth was a thin hard line and brows furrowed, but she didn't call after them. Matt opened his mouth to say something but then seemed to change his mind. Aaron turned abruptly and started back towards campus when Andrew and Renee had cleared the parking lot. Neil raised an eyebrow at his back but didnt care to ask where he was going. He decided he had enough of standing out in the sun and made his way inside Fox Tower. The sound of the entire team's footsteps starting after him reached his ears, as well as Matt's question.
"Right, are we going to talk about... everything that happened at practice today?"
Nicky piped up after a few moments of silence, Neil not bothering to turn around to look at them.
"Not without a drink, we aren't." Neil frowned, not expecting Nicky to be so open to gossiping about his own cousins - with the same people who regularly belittled him and his kind. On the way up to his dorm, he thinks about Nicky's need for approval. He knew it played into how Nicky interacts with people, the team especially. He just hadn't expected that Nicky would give up his cousin's privacy to get that approval he's after. Neil sighs, thinking that he should probably referee the conversation.
The school's Exy team had three suites on the third floor - Andrew's pack had the room closest to the stairs, the girls were in the middle, while Neil and Matt's dorm was down the other end. Neil doesn't believe that Seth will be back on the team and in that dorm, so he scrubs the beta from his mind. It doesn't appear like Matt can do the same, staring down at the keys in his hand like he's not sure which one will let him in. Neil doesn't understand how someone can care for an asshole like Seth, but then thinks about Renee trying to extend a hand to everyone in her radius. Maybe they didn't see how problematic Seth was - like rose tinted glasses? He acknowledges that maybe he just isn't wired the way they are.
"He is such an asshole," Matt says quietly, still staring at the keys. Neil is more confused now, but promptly shoves the thoughts away. He knows he doesn't understand friendship, he doesn't understand most social interactions either - the whole Seth situation has him annoyed in his confusion.
"I know," Dan mutters, holding Matt's free hand and squeezing. Matt finally puts the key in the lock and opens the door, seeming to breathe a sigh of relief that Seth's things are still in the room. Neil hadn't been in their dorm since Friday, happy to pilfer Andrew's things for himself and sleep either in the alpha's bed or on a beanbag.
Neil headed off to the bedroom, wanting his blanket. He noticed that his things had lost some of his scent, and spent the next few minutes rubbing his hands and face over his blankets and fluffy pyjamas before opening his safe to check over his things in there too. Once he was satisfied that everything was still in order and smelling of his orange scent, he picked up his blanket, that was originally Andrew's, wrapping it around his shoulders before making his way back out to the lounge room.
Matt and Dan were pressed together on the lounge, seeming to be leaning on each other for support. Allison was first to arrive, as Neil was getting himself comfortable on his desk by the window. She breezed in, carrying a bottle of tequila in one hand and orange juice in the other, with a bottle of something red under her arm. She set it all down on the coffee table in front of the other two, before making her way to the kitchen for glasses. Nicky and Kevin were in next, the beta carrying a bottle of rum and an opened bottle of coke. Kevin eyed the tequila that was already on the table and sat down on the floor opposite Matt and Dan. Allison returned with the glasses and her and Nicky were quick to make drinks for the group, Neil not joining in. Allison sat next to Dan on the lounge, while Kevin sat beside Nicky.
The beta raised his glass in silent toast but no one joined him - he was quick to down half his drink before topping it off with more rum and grimacing on his next sip.
"So, this is... uhh," Nicky began ineloquently. Matt didn't give him time to figure it out, and his face said that he wasn't ready to talk about Seth yet, nor Riko's potential involvement in the beta's overdose. Allison seemed in agreement.
"You know why Oakland was calling Andrew?" Matt asks Nicky. The beta winced, but Neil wasn't sure if it was the question or Matt's strained voice that bothered him more.
"Yes and no. Andrew hasn't done anything, I can swear on that," he said while raising his hands a little. He took another couple of sips of his drink to gather courage, Neil waiting to see how much Andrew's cousin was willing to sell out for to get the attention and approval of people outside his pack. He knows that Nicky is lonely, but there are other ways to help that than to do this.
"What were they calling for then?" Dan's sharp tone has Nicky reeling back slightly, and Neil frowns at her. He notices that Matt seems to lean away from his girlfriend too, unimpressed with her tone.
"Higgins really did do after school programs to help at-risk kids, he was Andrew's mentor. It was because of him that Aaron and Andrew even ended up knowing the other existed." Nicky's poor explanation has the humans on the lounge reeling, shocked.
"But they're twins? Why didn't they know about each other?" Matt asks, incredulous. Nicky just frowns at them, looking from one face to another.
"They're twins, but think of it from Aunt Tilda's perspective. She gave up one twin at birth for whatever reason, never mentioning it to anyone - not Aaron, not my dad, no-one! We have no idea who the twin's father even is. I think she gave up one of the twins because my dad shamed her for not being married before having kids - she might have thought that only having one child was a lesser sin than having two out of wedlock. As if dumping your child into the system without even a surname is a lesser sin." Nicky mutters the last sentence to himself, the humans leaning forward to hear but Neil able to understand from a few metres away. "How eager would you be to tell not only your son, but your extended family that you actually have two sons? That you gave the other child up at birth? So she obviously didn't want Aaron to find out. She hoped that secret would stay buried forever."
Neil hadn't stopped Nicky's rambling because it wasn't anything new - everyone knows with a simple internet search that Andrew was a foster child until age thirteen and then spent two years in juvie. He arrived in Columbia with a new surname just before his sixteenth birthday, spending 6 months there before Tilda's 'accident'. Neil had heard this all from Andrew himself, in parts over many conversations. He didn't know the details, but was willing to wait until Andrew was ready to tell him.
"But somehow they found out about each other - because of Higgins you said?" Allison asks, looking eager to get the newest gossip.
"Yeah, Aunt Tilda must of gotten sick of dating locally, and started using an online match site. Right after Aaron turned thirteen, she hooked up with this guy in Oakland. The guy thought they should meet up at a Raiders game, I think he was trying to get to know Aaron better, hoping to get more serious with Aunt Tilda." Nicky looks pensive for a moment before continuing. "Aaron said that he was at a concession stand when a cop walked up to him and started talking to him, calling him Andrew. Aaron tried telling him that he was not Andrew, and Higgins was very confused. I mean, obviously, the twins look identical! It took me ages to be able to tell them apart, some times I still get it wrong." Nicky looks upset at that, frowning at his near empty cup. He downs the last of his drink and starts making another, gathering his thoughts to continue.
"Once Higgins realised that Aaron really wasn't Andrew just fucking with him, he asked to see Aunt Tilda, thinking that she was Aaron's foster mother and that the twins had somehow gotten split up in the system. Higgins is a cop who follows the law like its his religion, and he wanted to reunite them. I'm not sure why Aunt Tilda gave him her phone number, because she really didn't want anything to do with Andrew. Maybe she was embarrassed or just didn't want to explain to a cop, in front of her boyfriend and son plus whatever strangers were listening, what she had done. I don't know." Nicky takes a few big gulps of his drink, the humans on the lounge all with different expressions on their faces. Matt looked uneasy, like he was geniunely upset with how the twins had been separated. Dan looked thoughtful and maybe a bit impatient to hear the rest of the story. Allison looked like she had struck gold, and Neil imagines that she's avoiding thinking of Seth by digging up other people's secrets and scars. He knows he's right when she opens her mouth to demand more information.
"So? How did they meet? Was Andrew always a little monster?"
Nicky scowls at her, and Matt leans around Dan to give her an upset look as well. Neil can't help the sharp snarl he gives her for the word. Nicky's expression quickly melts into something else, and he continues.
"Aunt Tilda got a phone call from Andrew's foster mother, asking to arrange a meet and greet, but Aunt Tilda refused. Said she didn't want anything to do with Andrew - didn't want to know about him, what he was like or how he was doing. She even made them promise to never contact her again." Nicky looks into his cup then, seeming lost in thought. "Aaron knew who was on the phone though, and was listening in on the landline upstairs. That's how he found out the truth. I know that if he hadn't listened in, that Aunt Tilda would have spun lies to get Aaron to not visit Andrew in juvie. Aaron said listening to that phone call was the worst day of his life."
"Jesus," Matt says, running a hand over his face. "I don't blame him. He must of told her that he had heard, yeah?"
"Oh, definitely. Aaron said that it was a huge argument but Aunt Tilda wouldn't budge, so he went behind her back and called the Oakland PD to speak to the PAL co-ordinators. He gave them his information to speak to Andrew, and two weeks later got a letter that basically said 'fuck you, go away'." Nicky sighs.
"Yeah, that sounds like Andrew," Matt comments while rubbing at his temples. Neil is thinking now would be a good time to stop them. He didn't care if Nicky ranted about Aaron's life, but he wasn't going to let the beta give out Andrew's well guarded secrets to some of the humans who would throw them right back in his face. Some things are secret for a reason. He waited to see if Nicky would cross a line.
"So how did Aaron change his mind?" Dan asks, and Nicky gives her an odd look.
"He didn't. Andrew was in juvie a couple of months later, and Aunt Tilda packed their things, sold the house in San Jose and moved Aaron to Columbia." Dan looked bewildered at Nicky's words, mouth slightly open and eyes wide.
"Then when did they meet?" She asks.
"Once for 30 minutes for a supervised visit while Andrew was in juvie, and then after that they only met again when Andrew was let out on early parole for good behaviour, and dad bullied Aunt Tilda into bringing Andrew home." Nicky nursed his drink, hands clenched around the glass. "They've only really known each other for about three years."
"That's messed up," Matt says, frowning at the coffee table.
"Yeah. Anyway, that's how the twins know Higgins, and I just know the story. I don't know why he's calling now, but it's nothing to worry about. I'm not going to ask - I view Andrew's foster life as an off-limits topic, I don't bring it up until he does because I choose life." Nicky downs his glass and makes a third drink, looking tipsy with the heavy pours.
"Is that really okay? It didn't sound like a friendly chat, and what about what you guys said about Riko being a part of Seth's-" Dan catches herself and takes a split moment to choose her words carefully, probably noticing how both Matt and Allison tensed up on either side of her, "-hospitalisation."
"Andrew will take care of it," Nicky says, not leaving room for any questions.
"That's not very comforting," Dan says, but she lets the topic drop. Neil notices that Allison looks annoyed, staring at Nicky with consideration.
The team stays in the dorm, arguing about if they should order food in, when Allison decides to ask her question, trying to catch Nicky off guard.
"Is that why their mother is dead - Andrew didn't want to go back to his true family? Would explain why the twins hate each other." The blonde haired human asks, her eyebrow quirked and sitting poised on the edge of the lounge. Neil feels a quiet sound leave his chest, annoyed that some people do not know when to leave things alone.
"No, no more questions," Neil's lethal tone is quiet and final.
"I'm just making sure that the team is safe with that monster around." Allison tries to defend herself, and before Neil can prove how stupid she sounds, Dan jumps in.
"Although Allison's question was rude, as the captain I worry for the team's safety too. I'm still worried that Officer Higgins was actually calling because someone might have dug up one of Andrew's past crimes and that might take him off the court. He already beat four humans up last year! I don't like when he spars with Renee, she always comes back with bruises. Everyone has heard about feral shifters, how do I know he wont go feral and attack one of us? We know that An-" Neil thinks he's heard enough bullshit for today, and cuts in before Dan can dig herself a deeper hole.
"Shut. Up." When he's sure he has the captain's attention, he continues. "You cannot sit there and demand that everyone gives up their secrets and past hurts for your perusal, when you regularly disrespect a majority of this team for their kind." Neil's voice is slow, rough and cutting, but he sees the indignant look on his captain's face. She really doesn't see it - doesn't understand how she sounds.
"Dan is right. I know you lot probably feel the need to band together - we've been told about shifter packs - but that doesnt mean Andrew gets carte blanche to do whatever he likes with his little pack behind him to back him up." Allison's words are scornful and has the shifters in the room looking at her with displeasure.
"I agree. Neil, Andrew listens to you - I wanted to ask you to help me pull this team together." Neil just stares at Dan, incensed. The audacity!
"If you want me to help you bring this team together, let's start with educating you humans on the prejudices towards shifters." Neil spits out the word 'humans' with so much venom that he sees the three of them flinch back on the lounge. "Let me ask you some questions first." Neil pauses to lean forwards. "Have you ever been denied service because of your skin colour? For the track marks on your arms, Matt? How about facing harsh criticism because you're a woman, Dan? Or maybe because you're a disowned princess of rich, white, humans, Allison - how does that feel?" Neil waits as they start to look uneasy. "Can't change those things about yourself, can you?" His voice has dropped to something quietly sharp, precise and deadly.
"Now imagine you're a shifter - folk who just recently faced a war. At the height of it, our folk were killed for being themselves. Killed. Shot in the streets, homes invaded. Communities disbanded and looted. Omega's kept like prized animals - forced to bear children to try and create a more powerful shifted form. Alpha's are predisposed to be protectors, and yet their packs were ripped away, or executed in front of them. Parents had children stolen out of their arms, and were either killed or arrested for trying to get them back. Killed for defending yourself - killed because you didn't want a stranger to take your family; to take your child; your baby. Arrested or beaten to within an inch of your life for being a shifter at all." Neil looks at the three on the lounge, seeing their expressions go pale. There are a few glances to Nicky, who has also gone pale at the memory of his own attack last year. "I know that the human media covered up a lot of the war, but it was everywhere - the worst in America but spilt into other countries too. Surely you three saw how shifters were being treated."
Allison looks like she wants to argue, but doesnt have any valid points to argue with. Neil watches them in silence, his ice cold, blue eyed stare burning in its intensity.
"Whether we came to the Foxes to play exy, or to get a degree, or to simply have a warm place to stay, it doesn't change the fact that the shifters on this team are being attacked on a regular basis."
The quiet following his words seems to give Allison the courage to speak up.
"Seth and Renee don't care about this - Seth calls himself reformed and Renee follows human religion."
"Are you stupid?" Neil didn't mean to ask the question but he is curious on how someone, who's closest friend and boyfriend are both shifters, seems to not realise how damaging her words are. Allison sneers at him.
"No. But your argument doesn't matter anyways because you're all here, not being attacked on the streets. The war is over."
"No, we're being attacked in the place we have to call home, by the people we have to call teammates. The war may be temporarily over, but every time I go out in public, I face judgement from strangers." Neil sees Matt wince, seeming to understand how his silence has allowed the issue to continue as it has.
"Also, I would argue that being an omega in the limelight is more taxing than not. Humans claim that us omegas are sexually depraved for our heats, as well as our partial shifting ability - making us the worst of the worst. The most monstrous for having the ability to be both animal and man at once - a 'monster hybrid'." He sneers the word monster back at Allison, seeing her reel back slightly and look down.
"To make matters worse, I'm a male omega - too weird and different to be accepted by many, both male and female anatomy, but prized all the same. The media and public will hate me and want me at the same damn time." Neil grimaces at the reminder, his voice still that cold tundra that freezes the others to their seats.
"Religious zealots claim male omegas to be the epitome of monsters, to be killed on sight. Killed on sight! Then, for the cherry on top, I'm a person of colour - with scars." He pauses and lets them absorb the information for a moment. "Can you imagine how many people have attacked me, in my life? You can see some of the evidence on my arms easily enough." Neil stands and steps towards his captain, staring her down and feeling his eyes shift. Dan gasps, clutching at Matt, but the man just watches Neil curiously, knowing the omega well enough now to know that he would not attack without reason.
"I will do my best to help you captain this team Dan, but you all need to educate yourselves on shifters and stop being so biased. You are not only hurting a majority of this team, but you are hurting your own friend, Renee. Do you conveniently forget she's an omega shifter? That her mother is a human fighting for more shifter rights and acceptance?"
Neil steps back and wraps the blanket closer around himself, turning and heading to the kitchen for a drink. His throat feels sore and he knows he doesn't have very many words left today.
He's just putting down his cup when he hears a knock at the door. Nicky answers, probably keen to get out of the silence that has descended upon the lounge room. Kevin is too tipsy to care.
"Renee! Come in, come in," Nicky says excitedly. Neil hears Dan's quiet curse as she gets off the lounge and makes her way to Renee.
"I wish you wouldn't do this," the captain mutters to Renee just as Neil is entering the room again. He sees the slight limp and the red knuckles, ducking back into the kitchen to get an ice pack.
"I know," Renee's simple reply speaks of the amount of times she's had the conversation with Dan. Neil returns and crouches down in front of Renee, who has taken a seat on the lounge, to inspect her knuckles.
"Tell me Andrew isn't going to be a problem," Dan commands. Neil slants the woman a look, before turning back to Renee. The omega in front of him frowns back and forth at everyone, obviously picking up on the weird atmosphere of the room.
"No, it's strictly personal." She presses a hand to her cross necklace, and seems to take a moment to say a prayer. Neil assumes its for Andrew, and continues to assess her hands and fingers for any damage.
"Neil, you said that religious people were a part of the shifter war - how can you be fine with Renee and not with the rest of us?" Allison asks, seeming to want to pull his words apart and poke around at his sore spots. He plans to ignore her, not wanting to deal with them anymore.
"Neil and I are friends - he knows that I've found comfort in God and religion, but it doesn't rule me." She looks to her friends, to those she calls her own pack. "Some times the bonds shifters make are formed without our intentions. Neil and I have a lot of similar experiences, so we understand each other. Like how Andrew is interested in who I was before my faith - he and I have more in common than a lot of people expect." Renee's words seem to finally be sinking in for the humans, realising that she does in fact care for the shifter side of herself and her kin. Matt looks regretful, Dan looks slightly ashamed, while Allison looks mulish.
Neil whispers in a light tone to Renee, "I hope you got a few good punches in, he probably deserved it for something." Renee chuckles, rubbing her fingers over Neil's hand. He stands, squeezing her hand with his own before making his way out of the dorm. Andrew is more than likely on the roof having a cigarette, and after the conversation he's just had, he needs a smoke and quiet companionship. He hears as Kevin and Nicky stand and the beta says awkward goodbyes before scurrying out of the room. Kevin doesn't seem to care, only casting Neil a lingering look before heading to his own dorm. Neil shrugs.
He makes his way up to the roof, wondering how Renee will handle the upperclassmen now that he's ripped the blindfold off their faces. He hopes that they start treating her better, because she truly was starting to look run down. The thought of Renee hurting makes his chest feel tight, so he pushes the thought away.
The door squeaks open, and he quickly spots Andrew sitting on the edge, smoke rising past his head. He sits down beside the alpha, feeling his shoulders relax and let's out a sigh. Andrew glances towards the blanket still wrapped around him, blinking before looking away.
He knows he came up here for peace, but his question comes out anyways.
"Do you want to talk about it?"
"Not particularly." Neil just nods and accepts the answer, looking over the campus. He wriggles closer and offers some of his blanket, Andrew huffs and holds his cigarette in his lips to grab the edge and pull it around himself. It's not cold out, but it's nice to be wrapped up together.
Andrew finishes his cigarette, flicking the butt away and speaking again. "She wasn't meant to have more kids in that house. I was promised that she wouldn't foster more kids - silly me." Andrew chuckles mirthlessly, and Neil stays quiet, knowing Andrew just needed to get the words out without judgement.
"He's looking into the wrong Spear," Andrew glances at Neil. "Higgins. He's investigating Richard, my last foster father, but that man is uninteresting and a relatively harmless human being. They wont find anything on him."
A few minutes pass, Andrew taking the time to light up another two cigarettes, one for himself and one for Neil. "I wonder if they will give up when they don't find anything, or if they will actually do their jobs and investigate everyone in that house. One can hope." Andrew doesn't need to say what he thinks about the situation, its evident in his tone. Severe and mocking - he sounds like he has no faith in the human justice system. Neil doesn't either, so he doesn't say anything.
They stay there for a few hours, watching the sun set and then sitting in the darkness, watching the few stars come out that are bright enough to be seen with the light pollution.
"I gotta go back in, Kevin will be fuming and ready to go to his night practice." Neil laughs at Andrew's despondent face, nodding and standing up. He follows the alpha until he gets to his suite door, smiling in goodbye before slipping inside. He brings his blanket to his nose, smelling Andrew's scent and making his way to the bedroom. No one else is inside, so he starts getting the things he wants for bed. He hears a knock at the door and frowns, the knocking sounding urgent. He hurries to the door and opens it, seeing Kevin's impatient face.
"Hurry up. We are already behind." Neil watches the black haired alpha turn and start marching down the hallway, lifting an eyebrow at his retreating figure. Neil waits. Kevin realises that Neil isn't following him, turns around and stomps back to the doorway that Neil is leaning part way out of. The omega smiles at him. They stare at each other for a minute, Neil with increasing amusement and Kevin with increasing frustration. The alpha doesn't explode in righteous anger like he usually does though. Instead, he takes a breath and looks Neil in the eyes.
"I want to beat the Raven's. Help me get the team there. Dan asked for your help, and now I'm asking too." He pauses and takes another breath before sighing. "I know that Riko is behind Seth's overdose, and he doesn't care who he hurts to get his way." Kevin rubs his left hand, running fingers over scars. "I want to beat Riko, and I want everyone to see me do it." Kevin looks so determined in that moment that Neil smiles, genuinely. It seems his words from the bus the other day have finally sprouted the defiance he was looking for. Hopefully now they can work together to bear fruit. Neil nods, flicking his fingers down the hall and stepping out.
"Wait, you're seriously coming to night practices?" Kevin clarifies, excitement in his tone. Neil nods, locking his door and pulling his blanket over his shoulders more. They make their way out of Fox Tower, Kevin holding his head high. Neil knows tonight is going to be exhausting, and he will no doubt have to reign in the alpha's attitude. He will put up with it though, because he wants to get the Foxes to the top too.