Neil Josten’s adventures in Exy as an (unwilling) Amputee (PT3)
Holy cow the response to this au has been amazing, thank you all so much!
Riko saunters onto the stage like the bitch that he is (i hate him very much)
because this is my au and I can do what I want, when Kevin sits back down basically on top of Neil, Neil has an out-of-character moment and grabs Kevin’s fist that is crushed between their bodies, hoping that it’s enough to keep him from bolting live on air
Riko and Neil are just that one meme, ya know, the one
Somehow this conversation also happens, and Neil seriously considers taking up Wymacks idea of beating someone over the head with his leg
Kathy: So Riko, what are your opinions on Neil being the first amputee playing in Class 1 Exy?
Riko: I think it makes the Foxes more of a joke than they already are.
Kathy: So you think it’s a bad idea
Riko: I think it’s a risk
Neil: I mean we already have Kevin, what was it I was saying about starting over from the gutters?
Neil is really tempted to bring his leg up between Riko’s when he’s slammed against the wall.
Riko: I don’t approve of cripples, Kevin. You need to get rid of him as soon as possible, save the little dignity your team has left.
Kevin: He has potential, you saw him last night. He played just as well as any of them.
Riko turning on Kevin is Neil’s last straw, because I’d like to think in this au, their hand and leg bring them closer together faster, they really do understand what it’s like to start over, to relearn something everyone else has known since birth
So he grabs Riko’s shirt and throws him back harder than in cannon. Meaner than in the book because he’s beyond caring about his own safety, and he just really wants to hit something
Riko slams into Neil and sends him tripping into wires, tangling up his leg and making it impossible to get away. Neil’s hands are already clawing off his leg when Riko pulls back to swing
And then Andrew is there with Neil’s now detached leg, the sole of the shoe backing him away from Kevin and Neil. Neil is up on his foot and away from Riko as soon as he can find his balance hopping on his one foot
Andrew doesn’t give Neil back his leg, so aids are watching as Kevin holds up a hopping Neil as they get back to the team.
“The fuck did your leg go?” “I think Andrews using it as a bat”
Andrew passes it back to Neil with a lingering touch and a bored expression. No blood on the foot, that’s a good thing, doesn’t explain why Andrew’s touch lingered or why there’s goosebumps on Neil’s back
Neil eventually walks into the mess that is the cousins’ room, glass everywhere and Neil is increasingly concerned about how it could have ruined Andrew’s goalie abilites.
“What would it take to make you stay?” “What?” “Name it and it’s yours, I’m not above hiding all your little legs until I get an answer.”
So they go to Columbia again
Neil's no longer a rabbit
Neil takes off his contacts, gives them a little more of whoever was hiding behind the scar tissue of his life
Neil and Andrew start their game again, and Neil gives him bits, asking Andrew for protection against his father
The truth hurt, if he was being honest. It burned like the scars on his leg were fresh, sounded like his father's cleaver against his own bone
"He already took my leg. If he finds me, he will kill me." "Not a car crash then?" "Called it a lesson, never planned on letting me go but I got away anyways." "What a mess."
And then Neil gets shoved into Andrew's side, and all he can think about is how Andrew can hold him up. How he's nothing like his mother, who never held him up for anything other than to run.
Andrew was holding him up and telling him to stay, that meant more than his mother ever did.
Kevin and Neil find themselves alone at the table later in the night, and is to drunk to keep his mouth shut
Kevin: You were going to hit him, with your leg.
Neil: Andrew beat me to it
Kevin: Would you?
Neil: Wish I had, we could all bond over being cripples together.
Neil: Did my talent catch my eye or was it my leg
Kevin: Both. But your leg doesn't define how well you play. You learned a new sport on one leg. A lot of people couldn't say the same.
Kevin: (beat) We can do this
Neil: You're wasted
Kevin: If I didn't think you could do it I wouldn't have fought for you
Neil: You're learning on your right and relearning on the left.
Kevin: I guess cripples like to stick together
And that was the end of it, they ignored each other after that
Seth overdosed right about then, Neil didn't get it, understand how someone could actively want to die when his entire life had been about survival
He could have curled up and died at his father's feet that night, he didn't
Even Andrew's hand at his neck couldn't soothe the confusion and fear that came with a the realization; Seth's death was planned
Neil hated Andrew already knew him, knew the look in his eyes that told him to run
So he pressed a key into Neil's hand and went inside.
Home, that's what Andrew had called it. Home.
Neil wasn't sure if this was some kind of joke, a dream or a nightmare. He hoped he never found out.
PART ONE || PART TWO || PART THREE || PART FOUR
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