"Neil's Dead"
Those two words made Andrews's world crumple to the ground. He told himself when he was younger that he would never cry. That crying was for the weak and he wasn't weak anymore. But apparently, those two words broke any barriers around that statement into a thousand tiny pieces. He shut himself up in the dorm and cried until his body wouldn't let him anymore, and when it did, he cried more.
He stayed locked in the dorm room for a week only coming out to eat and buy more alcohol. But that was rare. The first time he felt hungry enough to eat he walked down to the fox lounge. Aaron and Kevin were at the table munching on the lasts of the cereal. Once they had caught sight of Andrew they stood. Aaron, keeping Andrew's personal space in mind, made a motion for his twin to embrace him. Andrew only leaned into the touch flinching slightly as Aaron wrapped his arms around him. Andrews's eyes began to sting and his stomach twisted inside out. He pushed Aaron out of the way and make it just in time to the trash can to retch.
Kevin grimaced and walked to Andrew's side. Andrew's legs gave out and sank to the floor and cried. Aaron was by his side in an instant and pulled his brother into his chest.
And they stayed like that for a while until they got sick of the smell.
Andrew didn't speak after he heard the news. He didn't see the need to. The only person who had ever truly understood what he said was Neil and Neil was—
The only people who got a hum or grunt in response were Renee and Aaron. Andrew didn't even speak to Bee. He didn't speak on the court or in class or in the dorms. Some of the freshmen had never heard him speak. He didn't care. In fact, he stopped caring in general. His grades lowered, he stopped putting effort into play causing Renee to play for most of the game, and his hygiene wasn't as good as it once was. Sure he showered and shaved and all that shit, but he stopped worrying about his hair, which was long enough now to get in his eyes, and his clothing choices. He wore Neil's black sweatshirt and Neil's fox sweatshirt with whatever pants and shoes he found first.
He just...stopped
Wymack, despite his frustration, let Andrew do whatever he pleased within reason. Being the man that told Andrew that Neil Josten, or Nathaniel Wesninski as the FBI had called him, was dead. Andrew kept away from Wymack more than usually did and Wymack noticed.
He had asked Abby to check in on Andrew once in a while to make sure the man wasn't slitting his wrists. He started with the knife around 2 weeks after the news went public. Fans had tweeted him in posts and the paparazzi got every chance to try and talk with Andrew about Neil whenever he was in public, which was only at games.
The first time he did it Aaron had found him in the bathroom, more specifically in the running shower fully clothed. He was sitting in a daze and didn't even notice Aaron was there until his hands were on Andrew's shoulders. Andrew had violently shaken his head as an apology for his actions and made small weeping noises. Aaron turned off the water and pulled his brother out of the shower and onto the bathroom floor.
Aaron pulled off Andrew's shirt and pants so that he was only in his underwear. Andrew shivered but paid no attention to it. He had eyes only for his arms. Blood dripped from the cuts onto the white floor. Aaron grabbed a towel from the cupboard and clamped it over the cuts.
"SOMEBODY GET THEIR ASS IN HERE!" he screamed. Andrew flinched away from the touch and pushed himself into the corner. He pulled his knees to his chest and dug his hands into his hair.
