𝐘𝐎𝐔'𝐑𝐄 𝐆𝐎𝐍𝐍𝐀 𝐆𝐎 𝐅𝐀𝐑, Renee Walker

𝟮𝟮. 𝘁𝘄𝗶𝗻 𝘀𝗶𝘇𝗲𝗱 𝗺𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘀

"𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙞𝙩 𝙞𝙨 𝙣𝙤 𝙗𝙞𝙜 𝙨𝙪𝙧𝙥𝙧𝙞𝙨𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙣𝙚𝙙 𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙬𝙖𝙮
 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙥𝙖𝙧𝙠 𝙞𝙣 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙚𝙮𝙚𝙨, 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙡𝙤𝙤𝙠 𝙤𝙣 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙛𝙖𝙘𝙚"
-The Front Bottoms

[TW: Drake, chapters 11 & 12 of trk.]

THEY ALL KNEW IT WOULDN'T LAST, but none of them had expected for it to change the way it did. The days following halloween, altercations between the Foxes had been at an all-time low. The two subgroups had reached a sort of standstill, no pushing or prodding from anyone, even the twins, who'd just taken to pretending that night hadn't happened at all.

Of course, it couldn't last long. For once, however, it wasn't either of the Foxes' faults.

Bastien was in the middle of writing an essay due for his class on Tuesday when he got the text from Kevin. It contained no more than an address, but that was all that was necessary for him to snatch his emergency bag from beneath his bed and take off for Wymack's house. By the time the two were pulling up to Richmond General Hospital in Columbia, the two had managed to get a somewhat solid story after a stop at the police station.

The meeting with Nicky's parents had gone worse than any of them could have ever imagined, resulting in Andrew currently laying on a hospital bed after being raped by his childhood tormentor, and Aaron arrested for the killing of said tormentor. 

Entering the hospital's congested emergency room, the sight of an uninjured Neil standing there had the two nearly heaving sighs of relief. With a simple motion of stabbing his finger at the ground in front of him, Wymack had Neil nearly sprinting to them instantly. The older man barely waited for him to reach them before he headed back outside; Bastien held back a second longer.

"Did Kevin or you get hurt?"

Neil shook his head, hugging his coat tighter around himself. "N—" 

"Good." Bastien interrupted him, retaking his previous pace to catch up with Wymack.

The man led them to a designated smoking section some twenty feet down the sidewalk. Neil's gaze slid curiously to the plastic bag hanging off his elbow but left it at that when Wymack pulled a pack of cigarettes out of his pocket. He held his hand out in silent request. Bastien side eyed him intrigued. Wymack arched an eyebrow at him and said, "Last I checked, you don't smoke."

"I don't," Neil said.

Wymack handed him the cigarette anyway and got another for himself, holding out to half empty box out for Bastien to take one as well. He did. The wind was strong enough it took them work to get their cigarettes lit.

Bastien tilted his face away from them after he took his first drag, blowing the smoke out into the night. To his right, Neil took a long drag from his cigarrete before cupping the glowing stick between his hands. 

"What are you doing here?" The youngest Fox asked.

"Kevin called me; texted Bastien, " Wymack said. "I brought Andrew some clean clothes."

Neil turned to look at Bastien. "Legal support," The dark haired male answered, a half-truth for the sake of Wymack. "I can't do much, but I know people who can if it gets ugly."

"They arrested Aaron," Neil said.

"I know," Wymack said.

"Why?"

"Someone died on the other end of his racquet." Bastien shoved the hand not holding the cigarette, into his pocket. "And killing someone in self-defense is still considered manslaughter, Neil."