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Andrew had prepared for today, Coach looked at him weird when he had stolen a bunch of old exy balls and put them in a duffel bag, but today was important for Neil and he would kill the foxes for even attempting to ruin it.
This had started well into his second year, when they already had a routine and Neil was actually invested in living a real life.
Andrew had taken it upon himself, even if he will never admit it, to make Neil experience normal things. After hearing stories about Mary, he decided out of spite to take Neil to do everything that his mother had denied in the name of “safety”. Those had been the “worst” weekends of his life, and Neil always looked at him with that stupid smile that he wanted to punch off.
There was only one thing he had not been able to change: Neil dressing like a walking trash can. The only way to get him to dress different was if Andrew picked his outfit. Don’t get him wrong Andrew really liked to dress up Neil, but he really wanted for Neil to dress the way he actually liked, not what his mother made him wear.
He knew that trying to get answers out of Neil would be impossible, as it was trying to get him to throw out that shirt he had sawn three patches into. He started subtle, Andrew would pay special attention to Neil while they were shopping, and then go back and buy that thing his eyes had lingered on for a little to long. He would pack them like a gift and leave it on top of his bed, or his side on Columbia.
His work seemed to be fruitless for a while, since there was no change in Neil. It wasn’t until a weekend where they were alone that Neil started wearing those things.
“You look stupid.” Andrew would say and Neil would just give him one of his stupid smiles and ask permission to kiss his cheek. It took a while, but Neil started getting more confident.
This newfound confidence brought Andrew to get the duffel. See, Neil’s outfits were a bit bizarre. He would mix color and patterns without a care in the world. Apparently what he liked was really colourful clothes, strange patterns and soft materials that didn’t irritate his scars.
All of his hard work wasn’t going to waste because the foxes, hence the exy balls.
The first to suffer that fate was Nicky.
“Woah Neil-“ the rest of that phrase was never heard as he was rubbing his shoulder and complaining to Andrew, who just kept his bored expression.
The rest of the foxes suffered a similar fate throughout the week. Andrew even hit them if he felt like they were eying Neil too much, knowing the red head was always hyper aware of his surroundings. By Monday no one batted an eye when Neil showed up with some pastel green shorts with an orange and pink shirt. Andrew would keep the duffel around for a little longer just in case.
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“You didn’t have to do that Drew.” Neil said while lying beside Andrew on the floor.
“I don’t know what you are talking about.”
“Attacking our team mates so that they would not comment.”
“Bold of you to assume I did it for you. I live for tormenting our team mates.”
“I appreciate it, but it’s a bit excessive.”
“It was for my own amusement.”
Neil just rolled his eyes exasperated.
“Thank you, can I kiss you?”
“Yes.”
Neil sat up a bit to press a soft kiss on his cheek.
“If you are gonna do it, commit to it.” Andrew complained and pulled on Neil so that he collapsed on top of him, pulling into a kiss.
“You have the absolute worst taste in clothes Junkie.”