another side effect of the drugs

“And you’re drunk,” replied Andrew, not looking up from his phone.

“Not drunk- I don’t get drunk,” replied Neil in all seriousness, struggling to sit comfortably on Andrew’s bean bag.

“I believe you.”

“Of course you do- I’m sober.”

“Very?”

“Very very. I promise,” said Neil, eventually deciding on laying his head on Andrew’s lap. 

With party clothes- a fancy shirt and black jeans of Nicky’s request- to match the upbeat music blaring from downstairs, Neil looked far from the usual homeless look he usually threw together. His messy hair seemed a darker shade of auburn in the moonlight shining in through the windows, and Andrew couldn’t help put his phone down in favour of an entertainingly intoxicated Neil.

“You’ve got muscles,” declared Neil in awe. “Sehr gut für exy.”

“Exy? Is that it?” Asked Andrew flatly in amusement.

“Don’t know, I can’t remember.”

“Anything else?”

“You’ve- you’ve got beautiful hair. Have I ever said that?”

“No.”

“Blonde hair...” sighed Neil, almost dreamily. “I used to have it in Austria I think. Was a really beautiful country. Leben ist kein Zuckerschlecken they said whenever things went wrong. Wasn’t very helpful,” said Neil, scrunching his nose up in disagreement.

“Obviously.”

“Good you agree.”

“How could I not?”

Neil didn’t seem to notice the sarcasm dripping from Andrew’s voice, much to his amusement. With a stretch to the half-empty can next to him, Andrew took a sip of beer that Neil attempted to pry from his hands.

“You’ve had enough of this.”

“No!” cried Neil, as if he were hurt at such an accusation. The fact that the lines between things were beginning to blur was blind to him as he yawned sleepily. “I’m not even drunk!”

“I’ll believe you when you stop acting like an overexcited slug.”

Neil gave an ungraceful laugh, eyes starting to droop slightly in a telltale sign that he wasn’t too far away from falling asleep on Andrew’s lap.

“You’re funny.”

“You’re pathetic.”

“You love me,” Neil mumbled sleepily, cosying himself up against Andrew’s lap.

“I hate you.”

~~~

“Just shut up unless you want ten more laps.”

“Damn Neil,” started Nicky, making a gesture of zipping his lips up. “Didn’t know you were as bad as Kevin.”

“Fifteen.”

“Shutting up now.”

Sighing, Neil brushed away the curls of hair falling in front of his eyes before leaving Nicky to his lunges. With Dan and Kevin on some sort of promotional trip for the day, Neil was left to lead the foxes’ training. Granted, the idea sounded much better as just that— an idea. But no one could deny⁠— he was effective.

Blonde and black on orange caught in the corner of his eye, and with a quick jog, he arrived at the other end of the court.

“Having fun?”

Leaned against the goal was Andrew, plucking at the net of his racket with a disinterested look on his face.

“Actually, yes,” replied Neil. They’d barely started, yet Neil’s shirt was already sticking to his torso with sweat. “Are you planning on doing anything?”

“Not if I can help it.”

“Just a few rounds?”

“Hope must be a blinding thing.”

“Fine,” said Neil, pulling a light scowl. “But you’re covering the goal so the rest of them can practice.”

“Yes captain.”

The word was barely uttered, yet Neil heard it loud and clear over the chatter behind them. His face flushed a deep red and for a split second he froze. To his embarrassment, Andrew seemed to have picked up on it, raising an eyebrow.

“Flustered much?”

“Shut up.”

“Or I’ll get ten laps?”

Neil simply replied with a glare.

~~~

For an strenuous hour (though they’d all have sworn it was two), Neil went on yelling orders to the others. If they were being honest, practice was slightly irritating, possibly because of Neil’s favouritism to a certain blond goalkeeper. But no one could deny; it was almost the most effective they’d been in weeks.

That being said, they were still exhausted, practically dragging themselves out of court. And after a tiring morning of practice, Neil would have been perfectly content spending the rest of the day on Andrew’s lap, or skimming through a math textbook that Nicky had once threatened to burn.

“Wait— Neil hasn’t been to the ice cream place on fifth street, has he?”

But apparently, Nicky had other ideas. Neil sighed redundantly.

“Really?” Asked Matt, frantically turning to face Neil. “Have we seriously never taken you?”

“No, but I don’t really⁠—”

"Well, would you like to⁠—” started Renee, quickly interrupted.

“We’re going now! And you,” emphasised Nicky, pointing directly at Neil, his finger just falling short of Neil’s chest. “Are coming with us.”

With a helpless look on his face, Neil turned to Andrew for some sort of help. But Andrew merely shrugged and turned to Neil. “Have a problem, captain?”

After almost missing his step and falling flat on his face, Neil resisted the very strong urge to roll his eyes.

“As a matter of fact,” started Neil, making deliberate eye contact with Andrew’s unbothered face. “No, I don’t. We’re going.”

That seemed to elicit some sort of reaction from Andrew, even if it were only his eyebrows twitching up slightly in surprise. Neil took it as success, though his satisfaction was quickly wiped away by the rest of their smiling faces rushing him to the car.

Though he wouldn’t admit how contagious their excitement was.

~~~

If Neil was being honest, the place wasn’t half bad.

With bright blue walls and an overenthusiastic waiter, it was practically trademark to the underclassmen, and came with no surprise. Squeezing into a booth, he was grateful for the way Matt next to him tried his best in a feeble attempt to give Neil some space. Neil threw a glance at Andrew, who seemed surprisingly void of regret.

“No, shut up Neil,” started Allison.

“I didn’t— ”

Aggressively, she shushed him with a finger to her lips. “I’m ordering for you. Because a plain vanilla ice cream is not an acceptable choice.”

The way she said it, you’d think Neil had committed a war crime.

“Don’t worry about Allison—” said Nicky, waving her off. “This place is her lifeforce, just smile and wave is my advice.”

Neil noted the way he seemed to have perfectly mastered the art of ignoring Allison shooting daggers with her stares.

Daggers turned to smiles as the waiter came over to the table. As if on script, each person recited their order on cue— except for Neil, whose pleading look was unfortunately not enough to bag a choice.

With a glance, Neil observed as Allison sent a wary glare to Andrew, waiting for his order. And he watched as her look went from wary to puzzled with his dry response.

“Tell the captain to choose for me.”

No words in any of the numerous languages Neil knew were strong enough to describe the feelings that flew through Neil, all at once.

The emphasis on a certain word was obvious, and Nicky’s stare was uncomfortably knowing. And Neil certainly wasn’t the only one blushing faintly.

Only Renee seemed utterly unfazed. “I’d suppose that’s Neil?”

At Neil’s scowl she responded, “…as he’s the captain of the team for the time being, of course?”

Watching tense faces melt slowly, Neil sent a much more grateful look, for which he was rewarded with a glowing smile.

“The same for him, please.”

“So…” started Nicky. “Practice was hard, huh?”

“No,” mumbled Allison. “The captain was.”

“Well I for one have no doubt that Neil would make a delightful captain.”

Neil passed a small smile to Renee.

“As long as we’ve all graduated before.”

“Well, Allison,” started Neil. “It’s not my fault you were sloppy on your—”

“It’s not my fault you left us too tired after warm ups to actually play anything decently!”

“I agree with her, actually,” added Nicky.

“Oh really? Because you weren’t perfect eith —"

“I was glowing, thank you very much.”

The deadpan stare on Neil’s face was answer enough. Allison tried to hide her grin. Something about a riled up Neil was so easily entertaining. And somewhere at the edge of the seat, Andrew shared a glance with Renee, silently thinking the same thing.

Eventually amongst the bickering, came a voice. “Your orders are here, ma’am.”

The waiter looked baffled— so baffled that Neil had to let out a chuckle. Placing down the ice creams that looked too large to be real onto the tables, he disappeared almost as quickly as he came.

“Well,” started Renee, trying to break the silence. “What are Andrew’s thoughts on practice?”

Perking up ever-so-slightly, Andrew said smoothly. “I was just obeying the captain.”

And with that, he ignored the almost flustered breath Neil took in as he shot a world-class glare. If looks could kill, almost everyone at the table would certainly be in danger. Most certainly Andrew.

But his stare was as blank as ever.

~~~

If Neil knew how the evening would turn out, maybe he wouldn’t have pushed himself to exhaustion during training.

Sprawled over the floor with his math book laid out in front of him he flicked through the pages, skimming the pages disinterestedly. Every couple seconds— though he wouldn’t admit it⁠— he stole glances of Andrew, staring vaguely into the air. Numbly, his mind was going over the events of the day, and Neil couldn’t help a certain, faint blush that overcame certain moments.

When the keys jangled, and Nicky left the house, a small glance was shared between the two. Funnily enough, the bed seemed awfully empty all of a sudden.

It started out with small kisses. Andrew’s lips were soft against Neil’s— something that he was grateful for, what with being thoroughly exhausted.

Fingers trailed over bare skin, and with every small touch, Neil felt his breath quiver. With sudden contact, Neil felt his back against the wall. Letting a heated breath out, he felt Andrew’s lips travel over his neck and collarbone, exploring his skin. With Neil’s elbows resting on his shoulders, he let Andrew lead the way.

Soft kisses gradually became more passionate, until both of them were ready for more. Meeting Andrew’s eyes, Neil pushed back ruffled strays of auburn hair.

“Yes or no?”

“Yes, captain.”