Neil: “I have TWO packets of salt, I can weaponize this! I could take somebody down with two packets of salt!!”
Andrew: “I deal exclusively in skittles”
Kevin: “I’m immune to caffeine” *Vibrates for the next two hours*
Aaron: “That’s evoking some phobias I didn’t even know I had”
Nicky: “no, no, no it really IS coming from the window!!!”
Seth: *leading a walk on a path in the woods, stops everyone, pulls out his phone* “look it’s 420, call me trail blazer”
Allison: “I will bully all of you into taking so many pictures”
Dan: *gets 16 complaints about something that should be easy* “have you tried reading the problem more carefully”
Matt: “We are only nine [Neil]’s short of taking over the world”
Renee: “I can only drink tea from In-And-Out, the bible verse on the bottom of the cup makes it holy enough for my mouth, wouldn’t want to disrespect the cross (as the only true “holy” T)”
“Stickball was a bastard sport, an evolved sort of lacrosse on a soccer-sized court with the violence of ice hockey, and Neil loved every part of it from its speed to its aggression.”
“He didn’t know if he was ready to give up Stickball again, either. It was the only thing that made him feel real.”
“Kevin Day and his adoptive brother Riko Moriyama were hailed as the sons of Stickball.”
“Everything was for Stickball, from his early morning run to the hours he clocked at the gym to the afternoon scrimmages to the longer run he took in the evenings after dinner.”
“They lived and breathed Stickball on a scale no other team could or would.”
“Did you have any plans to do anything?” Matt finally thought to ask Neil. “Besides the obvious, I mean.” Neil wasn’t sure if Matt meant Stickball or Andrew.”
It was
Nicky who forced them all in the car on an apparently random Saturday, with empty
threats, a good deal of supplication, and endless streaks of “Neil. Neil. Neil.
Neil.” which got on everyone nerves, even his own.
Neil managed
to outlast Nicky the fifth time he did it by turning on the shower, choosing to
wash his hair for the second time in as many days just so the water would flow over
his ears.
“What the
fuck are you doing?” was the first thing he heard when he stepped out of the stall,
almost relaxed. The voices were right outside the bathroom door but Neil
pretended he was alone in the world as he dried and dressed as slowly as
possible.
Chapters: 6/6 Fandom: All For the Game – Nora Sakavic Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Neil Josten/Andrew Minyard, Minor or Background Relationship(s) Characters: Andrew Minyard, Nicky Hemmick, Neil Josten, Kevin Day, David Wymack, Renee Walker (All For The Game), Laila Dermott, Alvarez (All For the Game), Jean Moreau, Betsy Dobson, Original Characters, Allison Reynolds (All For The Game), Robin Cross, Jeremy Knox, Aaron Minyard Additional Tags: Alternate Universe – High School, Slow Burn, terrible flirting between adult men, POV Andrew Minyard, Softe things, Pining, Alternate Universe – Teachers Chapter Summary:
Threats are once again made. Christmas gifts are exchanged. Phone bills are accrued. Questions are asked and answers are given. There is a cat and an epilogue.
Andrew: Neil, I have come to make out with you
Neil: Not in the middle of the game, Andrew
Andrew: Fine. I will sit here consumed with lust for the rest of the evening
Kevin: No, Andrew, you have to fucking play
Nothing but My Aching Soul 