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What if Neil told the truth earlier?

How would the convo have gone if Neil had gotten the chance to tell everyone about his past himself before being kidnapped by his father's people? Would they have reacted any differently to him?

The problem with Neil's past is that most of the Foxes can't honestly imagine the reality of it. If he'd told them earlier & confessed his family's crimes, they would've been just words, another scary story lumped into the kind of madness Riko was capable of. A massive riot, a kidnapping, and the FBI's willingness to completely erase Neil from their lives were drastic eye openers.

Renee, Andrew, & Kevin would have had a better time appreciating the severity of the truth, but to the rest–they wouldn't fully understand just what they'd gotten themselves into, and they wouldn't have felt the appropriate amount of.. fear? caution? on Neil's behalf. They'd have been a bit more overprotective at all the wrong times, but it would've been pretty ineffectual in the long run.

How they would have reacted to Neil himself would largely depend on how early in the year Neil told them. If he started off with the truth, things could've worked out a little differently in the beginning–largely with Allison and Aaron's unwillingness to tolerate his risk on their court, or Dan & Matt being a little more cautious in how they treated Neil and a little more willing to let Andrew absorb Neil into his group. They wouldn't have asked Neil to breach the gap between the broken halves of the team because they wouldn't have thought it something he was capable of or interested in attempting. They would have let him go and then marveled over Neil's quiet decision to make a working team of them.

If Neil waited at least until mid-to-late November to tell the truth, the Foxes would have taken some time to cycle through shock & doubt & a little bit of fear, but they would have already made a place for Neil that they couldn't/wouldn't extricate him from. They would have chosen to stand by him no matter what, and if the FBI had come for Neil then they would have let him make whatever decision he felt was best.

They wouldn't have fought for him, but they wouldn't have wanted him to go, either, and they would hold tight to him when he chose to stay.