Aftg react

Part69

Foxes react: chapter19

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Jean was the most sought-after athlete in NCAA news these days, but he refused to announce his current whereabouts or speak to the press. His silence did the Ravens no favors so soon after Kevin's bold interview, and the speculations and rumors were starting to get a little wild.

"It's so satisfying watching them getting destroyed" said Alison with a grin, others were agreeing too (except Kevin for obvious reasons).
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Aaron and Andrew canceled their Wednesday session with Dobson to come to practice on time, but Kevin skipped Thursday night's practice. He had no real explanation aside from, "I need to take care of something," and he left Neil in charge.

"No way Kevin skipped night practice" said Nicky with too much shock it was half sarcastic but it was actually shocking too and he was not the only one caught by surprise the others in the room were the same.
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He only made it a few feet from his desk before the suite door opened and let Kevin in.
Kevin reeked so strongly of alcohol Neil could smell him halfway across the room, but Neil forgot the stench the second he saw the bandage on Kevin's face. It was too much to hope for and too impossible to believe in, but Neil froze in his tracks and stared. Kevin pushed the door closed and stumbled backward into it. He almost fell, braced himself in the nick of time, and stared blearily at Neil. That was about all Kevin could manage, it seemed, so Neil went to him. Kevin made a limp gesture near his side. Neil worked a corner of the tape up and pulled the gauze off Kevin's face.
It felt a bit like falling and a bit like flying; Neil's stomach bottomed out a second before adrenaline flooded his veins. Kevin had worn a "2" since his first days in the Moriyamas' cruel care. Riko and Kevin used markers for years, writing over their numbers any time they threatened to fade. As soon as they were old enough they'd switched to a more permanent ink. Now that number was gone, covered up by the jet-black image of a chess piece. Neil's knowledge of chess was hazy at best, but he knew for sure that wasn't a king.
"You did it," Neil said, too stunned to manage anything else.
"Let Riko be King," Kevin said, with the exaggerated enunciation of the thoroughly sloshed. "Most coveted, most protected. He'll sacrifice every piece he has to protect his throne. Whatever. Me?" Kevin gestured again, meaning to indicate himself but too drunk to get his hand higher than his waist. "I'm going to be the deadliest piece on the board."
"Queen," Andrew said somewhere behind Neil. Neil hadn't heard him get out of bed, but of course the bang of the door would have woken him. A sober Andrew was as light a sleeper as Neil was, maybe moreso because Andrew was used to unfriendly people sneaking into his room. Neil looked back at him, but Andrew was studying Kevin. Andrew crossed the room to stand at Neil's side and caught Kevin's chin in his hand. He turned Kevin's head to inspect the new ink. "He is going to be furious."
"Fuck him," Kevin said, sliding a little further down the door. "Fuck all of them. Waste of time to be angry. They should be afraid."
"Hell hath no fury," Andrew said.
Kevin gestured feebly to Neil, so Neil pressed the bandage back into place over swollen, reddened skin. Neil dropped his hand back to his side and clenched his fingers into a fist to hide the excited tremor. He doubted either Kevin or Andrew noticed; they were too busy staring each other down. At length Andrew smiled, slow and cold. It was the first time he'd smiled since coming off his drugs, and Neil couldn't help but stare.
"Now it's getting fun," Andrew said.
"Finally," Kevin said, equal parts exhaustion and exasperation.

They were shocked, surprised. They were not sure if they had really seen it but no one wanted to doubt it, it was weird seeing Kevin act like that but it was thrilling even if present Kevin was freaking out they ignored him in favour of watching the screen and finally seeing Kevin grow that damm spine everyone had been waiting for and after the realisation hit everyone and that there was no come back from that they cheered, they wanted to see how Riko was going to react to that and it shot everyone with a quick feeling of adrenaline.
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Neil left them to each other and went to join his teammates. Erik's handshake was firm and his smile wide. Neil mixed the sisters up almost immediately after their cheery introductions. Stephanie's patient smile was as unnerving as Renee's peaceful demeanor had once been, and Neil was sure Randy popped a couple vital organs with how hard she hugged him. Matt's father skipped a simple "hello" to tell Neil about a plastic surgeon he knew, if Neil wanted someone to clean up his face a bit.
"Dad," Matt said, horrified. "The fuck?"